Sample records for two-person pebble games

We define a general framework of partition games for formulating two-player pebblegames over finite structures. We show that one particular such game, which we call the invertible-map game, yields a family of polynomial-time approximations of graph isomorphism that is strictly stronger than the well-known Weisfeiler-Lehman method. The general framework we introduce includes as special cases the pebblegames for finite-variable logics with and without counting. It also includes a matrix-equivalence game, introduced here, which characterises equivalence in the finite-variable fragments of matrix-rank logic. We show that the equivalence defined by the invertible-map game is a refinement of the equivalence defined by each of these games for finite-variable logics.

Clear, accessible treatment of mathematical models for resolving conflicts in politics, economics, war, business, and social relationships. Topics include strategy, game tree and game matrix, and much more. Minimal math background required. 1970 edition.

We give a new, simplified and detailed account of the correspondence between levels of the Sherali-Adams relaxation of graph isomorphism and levels of pebble-game equivalence with counting (higher-dimensional Weisfeiler-Lehman colour refinement). The correspondence between basic colour refinement and fractional isomorphism, due to Ramana, Scheinerman and Ullman (1994), is re-interpreted as the base level of Sherali-Adams and generalised to higher levels in this sense by Atserias and Maneva (2012), who prove that the two resulting hierarchies interleave. In carrying this analysis further, we here give (a) a precise characterisation of the level k Sherali-Adams relaxation in terms of a modified counting pebblegame; (b) a variant of the Sherali-Adams levels that precisely match the k-pebble counting game; (c) a proof that the interleaving between these two hierarchies is strict. We also investigate the variation based on boolean arithmetic instead of real/rational arithmetic and obtain analogous correspondences...

The outcome of many social and economic interactions, such as stock-market transactions, is strongly determined by the predictions that agents make about the behavior of other individuals. Cognitive Hierarchy Theory provides a framework to model the consequences of forecasting accuracy that has proven to fit data from certain types of game theory experiments, such as Keynesian Beauty Contests and Entry Games. Here, we focus on symmetric two-players-two-actions games and establish an algorithm to find the players' strategies according to the Cognitive Hierarchy Approach. We show that the Snowdrift Game exhibits a pattern of behavior whose complexity grows as the cognitive levels of players increases. In addition to finding the solutions up to the third cognitive level, we demonstrate, in this theoretical frame, two new properties of snowdrift games: i) any snowdrift game can be characterized by only a parameter -- its class, ii) they are anti-symmetric with respect to the diagonal of the pay-off's space. Final...

Full Text Available The outcome of many social and economic interactions, such as stock-market transactions, is strongly determined by the predictions that agents make about the behavior of other individuals. Cognitive hierarchy theory provides a framework to model the consequences of forecasting accuracy that has proven to fit data from certain types of game theory experiments, such as Keynesian beauty contests and entry games. Here, we focus on symmetric two-player-two-action games and establish an algorithm to find the players’ strategies according to the cognitive hierarchy approach. We show that the snowdrift game exhibits a pattern of behavior whose complexity grows as the cognitive levels of players increases. In addition to finding the solutions up to the third cognitive level, we demonstrate, in this theoretical frame, two new properties of snowdrift games: (i any snowdrift game can be characterized by only a parameter, its class; (ii they are anti-symmetric with respect to the diagonal of the pay-off’s space. Finally, we propose a model based on an evolutionary dynamics that captures the main features of the cognitive hierarchy theory.

The existential k-pebblegame characterizes the expressive power of the existential-positive k-variable fragment of first-order logic on finite structures. The winner of the existential k-pebblegame on two given finite structures can easily be determined in time O(n^{2k}). We show that there is no O(n^{(k-3)/12}) time algorithm that decides which player can win the existential k-pebblegame on two given structures. This lower bound is unconditional and does not rely on any unproven complexity theoretic assumptions. Establishing strong k-consistency is a well-known heuristic for solving the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). By the game characterization of Kolaitis and Vardi our result implies that there is no O(n^{(k-3)/12}) time algorithm that decides if strong k-consistency can be established for a given CSP-instance.

This paper is purposed to formulate and analyze a two-person infinite game suggested from a quiz of guessing a number which is applicable to a plan of production under an uncertain demand, waiting for a person who arrives at a random time, etc. Shown are the two types of mode, shopping and shooting.

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate Nash equilibrium strategy of two-person zero-sum games with fuzzy payoffs. Based on fuzzy max order, Maeda and Cunlin constructed several models in symmetric triangular and asymmetric triangular fuzzy environment, respectively. We extended their models in trapezoidal fuzzy environment and proposed the existence of equilibrium strategies for these models. We also established the relation between Pareto Nash equilibrium strategy and parametric bi-matrix game. In addition, numerical examples are presented to find Pareto Nash equilibrium strategy and weak Pareto Nash equilibrium strategy from bi-matrix game.

The study of games and their equilibria is central to developing insights for understanding many socio-economic phenomena. Here we present a dynamical systems view of the equilibria of two-person, payoff-symmetric games. In particular, using this perspective, we discuss the differences between two solution concepts for such games - namely, those of Nash equilibrium and co-action equilibrium. For the Nash equilibrium, we show that the dynamical view can provide an equilibrium refinement, selecting one equilibrium among several possibilities, thereby solving the issue of multiple equilibria that appear in some games. We illustrate in detail this dynamical perspective by considering three well known 2-person games namely the Prisoner's Dilemma, game of Chicken and the Stag-Hunt. We find that in all of these cases, co-action equilibria tends to correspond to `nicer' strategies than those corresponding to Nash equilibria.

By using laboratory experimental data, we test the uncertainty of social strategy transitions in various competing environments of fixed paired two-person constant sum $2 \\times 2$ games. It firstly shows that, the distributions of social strategy transitions are not erratic but obey the principle of the maximum entropy (MaxEnt). This finding indicates that human subject social systems and natural systems could have wider common backgrounds.

Full Text Available Distributed hash tables (DHTs are usually used in the open networking environment, where they are vulnerable to Sybil attacks. Pebble-Rotating Game (PRG mixes the nodes of the honest and the adversarial randomly, and can resist the Sybil attack efficiently. However, the adversary may have some tricks to corrupt the rule of PRG. This paper proposes a set of mechanisms to make the rule of PRG be obliged to obey. A new joining node must ask the Certificate Authority (CA for its signature and certificate, which records the complete process on how a node joins the network and obtains the legitimacy of the node. Then, to prevent the adversary from accumulating identifiers, any node can make use of the latest certificate to judge whether one identifier is expired with the help of the replacement property of RPG. This paper analyzes in details the number of expired certificates which are needed to store in every node, and gives asymptotic solution of this problem. The analysis and simulations show that the mean number of the certificates stored in each node are [Formula: see text], where n is the size of the network.

This dissertation presents a method for simulation of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. A new mechanical motion simulator, PEBBLES, efficiently simulates the key elements of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. This model simulates gravitational force and contact forces including kinetic and true static friction. It's used for a variety of tasks including simulation of the effect of earthquakes on a PBR, calculation of packing fractions, Dancoff factors, pebble wear and the pebble force on the walls. The simulator includes a new differential static friction model for the varied geometries of PBRs. A new static friction benchmark was devised via analytically solving the mechanics equations to determine the minimum pebble-to-pebble friction and pebble-to-surface friction for a five pebble pyramid. This pyramid check as well as a comparison to the Janssen formula was used to test the new static friction equations. Because larger pebble bed simulations involve hundreds of thousands of pebbles and long periods of time, P...

Potential games and supermodular games are attractive games, especially because under certain conditions they possess pure Nash equilibria. Subclasses of games with a potential are considered which are also strategically equivalent to supermodular games. The focus is on two-person zero-sum games and two-person Cournot games.

The last decade has seen a revival of interest in pebblegames in the context of proof complexity. Pebbling has proven to be a useful tool for studying resolution-based proof systems when comparing the strength of different subsystems, showing bounds on proof space, and establishing size-space trade-offs. The typical approach has been to encode the pebblegame played on a graph as a CNF formula and then argue that proofs of this formula must inherit (various aspects of) the pebbling properties of the underlying graph. Unfortunately, the reductions used here are not tight. To simulate resolution proofs by pebblings, the full strength of nondeterministic black-white pebbling is needed, whereas resolution is only known to be able to simulate deterministic black pebbling. To obtain strong results, one therefore needs to find specific graph families which either have essentially the same properties for black and black-white pebbling (not at all true in general) or which admit simulations of black-white pebblings i...

Given a graph G with pebbles on the vertices, we define a pebbling move as removing two pebbles from a vertex u, placing one pebble on a neighbor v, and discarding the other pebble, like a toll. The pebbling number pi( G) is the least number of pebbles needed so that every arrangement of pi(G) pebbles can place a pebble on any vertex through a sequence of pebbling moves. We introduce a new variation on graph pebbling called two-player pebbling. In this, players called the mover and the defender alternate moves, with the stipulation that the defender cannot reverse the previous move. The mover wins only if they can place a pebble on a specified vertex and the defender wins if the mover cannot. We define η(G), analogously, as the minimum number of pebbles such that given every configuration of the η( G) pebbles and every specified vertex r, the mover has a winning strategy. First, we will investigate upper bounds for η( G) on various classes of graphs and find a certain structure for which the defender has a winning strategy, no matter how many pebbles are in a configuration. Then, we characterize winning configurations for both players on a special class of diameter 2 graphs. Finally, we show winning configurations for the mover on paths using a recursive argument.

Pebble bed reactors (PBR) have moving graphite fuel pebbles. This unique feature provides advantages, but also means that simulation of the reactor requires understanding the typical motion and location of the granular flow of pebbles. This report presents a method for simulation of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. A new mechanical motion simulator, PEBBLES, efficiently simulates the key elements of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. This model simulates gravitational force and contact forces including kinetic and true static friction. It's used for a variety of tasks including simulation of the effect of earthquakes on a PBR, calculation of packing fractions, Dancoff factors, pebble wear and the pebble force on the walls. The simulator includes a new differential static friction model for the varied geometries of PBRs. A new static friction benchmark was devised via analytically solving the mechanics equations to determine the minimum pebble-to-pebble friction and pebble-to-surface friction for a five pebble pyramid. This pyramid check as well as a comparison to the Janssen formula was used to test the new static friction equations. Because larger pebble bed simulations involve hundreds of thousands of pebbles and long periods of time, the PEBBLES code has been parallelized. PEBBLES runs on shared memory architectures and distributed memory architectures. For the shared memory architecture, the code uses a new O(n) lock-less parallel collision detection algorithm to determine which pebbles are likely to be in contact. The new collision detection algorithm improves on the traditional non-parallel O(n log(n)) collision detection algorithm. These features combine to form a fast parallel pebble motion simulation. The PEBBLES code provides new capabilities for understanding and optimizing PBRs. The PEBBLES code has provided the pebble motion data required to calculate the motion of pebbles during a simulated earthquake. The PEBBLES code provides the ability to

Potential games and supermodular games are attractive games, especially because under certain conditions they possess pure Nash equilibria. Subclasses of games with a potential are considered which are also strategically equivalent to supermodular games. The focus is on two-person zero-sum games and

Potential games and supermodular games are attractive games, especially because under certain conditions they possess pure Nash equilibria. Subclasses of games with a potential are considered which are also strategically equivalent to supermodular games. The focus is on two-person zero-sum games and

The PEBBLES manual describes the PEBBLES code. The PEBBLES code is a computer program designed to simulation the motion, packing and vibration of spheres that undergo various mechanical forces including gravitation, Hooke’s law force and various friction forces. The frictional forces include true static friction that allows non-zero angles of repose. Each pebble is individually simulated using the distinct element method.

The PEBBLES manual describes the PEBBLES code. The PEBBLES code is a computer program designed to simulation the motion, packing and vibration of spheres that undergo various mechanical forces including gravitation, Hooke’s law force and various friction forces. The frictional forces include true static friction that allows non-zero angles of repose. Each pebble is individually simulated using the distinct element method.

A comprehensive, high fidelity model for pebble flow has been developed and embodied in the PEBBLES computer code. In this paper, a description of the physical artifacts included in the model is presented and some results from using the computer code for predicting the features of pebble flow and packing in a realistic pebble bed reactor design are shown. The sensitivity of models to various physical parameters is also discussed.

Highlights: • A discrete element method code is developed for pebble bed reactor analyses. • Methods are established to extract packing information at various spatial scales. • Packing simulations inside annular core geometry are done varying input parameters. • The restitution coefficient has the strongest effect on the resulting packing density. • Detailed analyses reveal local densification especially near the walls. - Abstract: It is important to understand the packing characteristics and behaviour of the randomly packed pebble bed to further analyse the reactor physical and thermal-hydraulic behaviour and to design a safe and economically feasible pebble bed reactor. The objective of this work was to establish methods to model and analyse the pebble packing in detail to provide useful tools and data for further analyses. Discrete element method (DEM) is a well acknowledged method for analysing granular materials, such as the fuel pebbles in a pebble bed reactor. In this work, a DEM computer code was written specifically for pebble bed analyses. Analysis methods were established to extract data at various spatial scales from the pebble beds resulting from the DEM simulations. A comparison with available experimental data was performed to validate the DEM implementation. To test the code implementation in full-scale reactor calculations, DEM packing simulations were done in annular geometry with 450,000 pebbles. Effects of the initial packing configuration, friction and restitution coefficients and pebble size distribution to the resulting pebble bed were investigated. The packing simulations revealed that from the investigated parameters the restitution coefficient had the largest effect on the resulting average packing density while other parameters had smaller effects. Detailed local packing density analysis of pebble beds with different average densities revealed local variations especially strong in the regions near the walls. The implemented DEM

Anyone with a knowledge of basic mathematics will find this an accessible and informative introduction to game theory. It opens with the theory of two-person zero-sum games, two-person non-zero sum games, and n-person games, at a level between nonmathematical introductory books and technical mathematical game theory books. Succeeding sections focus on a variety of applications - including introductory explanations of gaming and meta games - that offer nonspecialists information about new areas of game theory at a comprehensible level. Numerous exercises appear with full solutions, in addition

The operation of pebble bed reactors, including fuel circulation, can generate graphite dust, which in turn could be a concern for internal components; and to the near field in the remote event of a break in the coolant circuits. The design of the reactor system must, therefore, take the dust into account and the operation must include contingencies for dust removal and for mitigation of potential releases. Such planning requires a proper assessment of the dust inventory. This paper presents a predictive model of dust generation in an operating pebble bed with recirculating fuel. In this preliminary work the production model is based on the use of the assumption of proportionality between the dust production and the normal force and distance traveled. The model developed in this work uses the slip distances and the inter-pebble forces computed by the authors’ PEBBLES. The code, based on the discrete element method, simulates the relevant static and kinetic friction interactions between the pebbles as well as the recirculation of the pebbles through the reactor vessel. The interaction between pebbles and walls of the reactor vat is treated using the same approach. The amount of dust produced is proportional to the wear coefficient for adhesive wear (taken from literature) and to the slip volume, the product of the contact area and the slip distance. The paper will compare the predicted volume with the measured production rates. The simulation tallies the dust production based on the location of creation. Two peak production zones from intra pebble forces are predicted within the bed. The first zone is located near the pebble inlet chute due to the speed of the dropping pebbles. The second peak zone occurs lower in the reactor with increased pebble contact force due to the weight of supported pebbles. This paper presents the first use of a Discrete Element Method simulation of pebble bed dust production.

We study restricted computation models related to the Tree Evaluation Problem}. The TEP was introduced in earlier work as a simple candidate for the (*very*) long term goal of separating L and LogDCFL. The input to the problem is a rooted, balanced binary tree of height h, whose internal nodes are labeled with binary functions on [k] = {1,...,k} (each given simply as a list of k^2 elements of [k]), and whose leaves are labeled with elements of [k]. Each node obtains a value in [k] equal to its binary function applied to the values of its children, and the output is the value of the root. The first restricted computation model, called Fractional Pebbling, is a generalization of the black/white pebblinggame on graphs, and arises in a natural way from the search for good upper bounds on the size of nondeterministic branching programs (BPs) solving the TEP - for any fixed h, if the binary tree of height h has fractional pebbling cost at most p, then there are nondeterministic BPs of size O(k^p) solving the heigh...

Highlights: • Quantitative determination of abrasion rate of graphite pebbles in different lifting velocities. • Abrasion behavior of graphite pebble in helium, air and nitrogen. • In helium, intensive collisions caused by oscillatory motion result in more graphite dust production. - Abstract: A pebble-bed high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (pebble-bed HTR) uses a helium coolant, graphite core structure, and spherical fuel elements. The pebble-bed design enables on-line refueling, avoiding refueling shutdowns. During circulation process, the pebbles are lifted pneumatically via a stainless steel lifting pipe and reinserted into the reactor. Inevitably, the movement of the fuel elements as they recirculate in the reactor produces graphite dust. Mechanical wear is the primary source of graphite dust production. Specifically, the sources are mechanisms of pebble–pebble contact, pebble–wall (structural graphite) contact, and fuel handling (pebble–metal abrasion). The key contribution to graphite dust production is from the fuel handling system, particularly from the lifting pipe. During pneumatic lift, graphite pebbles undergo multiple collisions with the stainless steel lifting pipe, thereby causing abrasion of the graphite pebbles and producing graphite dust. The present work explored the abrasion behavior of graphite pebble in the lifting pipe by measuring the abrasion rate at different lifting velocities. The abrasion rate of the graphite pebble in helium was found much higher than those in air and nitrogen. This gas environment effect could be explained by either tribology behavior or dynamic behavior. Friction testing excluded the possibility of tribology reason. The dynamic behavior of the graphite pebble was captured by analysis of the audio waveforms during pneumatic lift. The analysis results revealed unique dynamic behavior of the graphite pebble in helium. Oscillation and consequently intensive collisions occur during pneumatic lift, causing

Postirradiation examinations of COBRA-1A beryllium pebbles irradiated in the EBR-II fast reactor at neutron fluences which generated 2700--3700 appm helium have been performed. Measurements included density change, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The major change in microstructure is development of unusually shaped helium bubbles forming as highly non-equiaxed thin platelet-like cavities on the basal plane. Measurement of the swelling due to cavity formation was in good agreement with density change measurements.

To increase the understanding of paleo-earthquakes and deformation patterns, and the propagation of surface waves in the proximity of active faults, we use the mainly disregarded features of ruptured or broken pebbles within in a clayey matrix. Deformation of unconsolidated sediments (alluvium, colluvium) due to earthquake ruptures is a long investigated topic, including the degradation of the fault scarp. However, during many trenching studies aligned pebbles along the fault planes have been described, and attributed to coseismic deformation. Over the last decades, we have found many ruptured pebbles in trenches at active faults with historic earthquakes, but also aligned (rotated?) pebbles. Here, we describe ruptured pebbles from a Pleistocene debris flow near the coastline between the towns Carboneras and Mojácar (SE Spain), East of the Sierra Cabrera. The outcrop is on-fault at the transition of the active Carboneras and Palomares faults (major historical earthquakes with M 7 in 1518 and 1522), implying proximity to the earthquakes epicenters. The Carboneras (NE-SW), Gafarillos (E-W) and Palomares (NNE-SSW) faults form major faults in eastern Andalucia. The outcrop contains ruptured pebbles in an only slightly consolidated, Pleistocene debris flow with 50 % matrix content. Similar near-fault ruptured pebbles have already been observed in the Carrizales quarry near Baelo Claudia, S Spain, and many other sites (e.g., Italy, Greece, Russia), but always in the proximity of active faults. We measured the fractures of 100 pebbles as planes, if possible, or trend, in case no measureable plane was accessible. Complementary 3D-models of the outcrop and each ruptured pebble were created using Structure from Motion, allowing us to further study the pebbles morphology and geometry. Mode II and conjugate fractures are prevailing in the pebbles and the lack of surface-loading such as striations and dissolution pits neglects clast-interaction. Un-cemented shear planes

Beryllium pebbles are being considered in fusion reactor blanket designs as neutron multiplier. An example is the European `Helium Cooled Pebble Bed Blanket.` Several forms of beryllium pebbles are commercially available but little is known about these forms in response to fast neutron irradiation. Commercially available beryllium pebbles have been irradiated to approximately 1.3 x 10{sup 22} n/cm{sup 2} (E>1 MeV) at 390degC. Pebbles 1-mm in diameter manufactured by Brush Wellman, USA and by Nippon Gaishi Company, Japan, and 3-mm pebbles manufactured by Brush Wellman were included. All were irradiated in the below-core area of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II in Idaho Falls, USA, in molybdenum alloy capsules containing helium. Post-irradiation results are presented on density change measurements, tritium release by assay, stepped-temperature anneal, and thermal ramp desorption tests, and helium release by assay and stepped-temperature anneal measurements, for Be pebbles from two manufacturing methods, and with two specimen diameters. The experimental results on density change and tritium and helium release are compared with the predictions of the code ANFIBE. (author)

This study examined the effects of lifting range, hand-to-toe distance, and lifting direction on single-person lifting strengths and two-person teamwork lifting strengths. Six healthy males and seven healthy females participated in this study. Two-person teamwork lifting strengths were examined in both strength-matched and strength-unmatched groups. Our results showed that lifting strength significantly decreased with increasing lifting range or hand-to-toe distance. However, lifting strengths were not affected by lifting direction. Teamwork lifting strength did not conform to the law of additivity for both strength-matched and strength-unmatched groups. In general, teamwork lifting strength was dictated by the weaker of the two members, implying that weaker members might be exposed to a higher potential danger in teamwork exertions. To avoid such overexertion in teamwork, members with significantly different strength ability should not be assigned to the same team.

""A lucid and penetrating development of game theory that will appeal to the intuition . . . a most valuable contribution."" - Douglas R. Hofstadter Fascinating, accessible introduction to enormously important intellectual system with numerous applications to social, economic, political problems. Newly revised edition offers overview of game theory, then lucid coverage of the two-person zero-sum game with equilibrium points; the general, two-person zero-sum game; utility theory; other topics. Problems at start of each chapter.

Highlights: • An uncertainty and sensitivity analysis model for pebble flow has been built. • Experiment and random walk theory are used to identify uncertainty of pebble flow. • Effects of pebble flow to the core parameters are identified by sensitivity analysis. • Uncertainty of core parameters due to pebble flow is quantified for the first time. - Abstract: In pebble bed HTR, along the deterministic average flow lines, randomness exists in the flow of pebbles, which is not possible to simulate with the current reactor design codes for HTR, such as VSOP, due to the limitation of current computer capability. In order to study how the randomness of pebble flow will affect the key parameters in HTR, a new pebble flow model was set up, which has been successfully transplanted into the VSOP code. In the new pebble flow model, mixing coefficients were introduced into the fixed flow line to simulate the randomness of pebble flow. Numerical simulation and pebble flow experiments were facilitated to determine the mixing coefficients. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to achieve the conclusion that the key parameters of pebble bed HTR are not sensitive to the randomness in pebble flow. The uncertainty of maximum power density and power distribution caused by the randomness in pebble flow is very small, especially for the “multi-pass” scheme of fuel circulation adopted in the pebble bed HTR.

We consider two-person sports where each rally is initiated by a \\emph{server}, the other player (the \\emph{receiver}) becoming the server when he/she wins a rally. Historically, these sports used a scoring based on the \\emph{side-out scoring system}, in which points are only scored by the server. Recently, however, some federations have switched to the \\emph{rally-point scoring system} in which a point is scored on every rally. As various authors before us, we study how much this change affects the game. Our approach is based on a \\emph{rally-level analysis} of the process through which, besides the well-known probability distribution of the scores, we also obtain the distribution of the number of rallies. This yields a comprehensive knowledge of the process at hand, and allows for an in-depth comparison of both scoring systems. In particular, our results {help} to explain why the transition from one scoring system to the other has more important implications than those predicted from game-winning probabilit...

Highlights: • Numerical simulations of a single face cubic centred pebble bed are performed. • Wide range of turbulence modelling techniques are used to perform these calculations. • The methods include 1-DNS, 1-LES, 3-Hybrid (RANS/LES) and 3-RANS models, respectively. • The obtained results are extensively compared to provide guidelines for such flow regimes. • These guidelines are used to perform reference LES for a limited sized random pebble bed. - Abstract: High Temperature Reactors (HTRs) are being considered all over the world. An HTR uses helium gas as a coolant, while the moderator function is taken up by graphite. The fuel is embedded in the graphite moderator. A particular inherent safety advantage of HTR designs is that the graphite can withstand very high temperatures, that the fuel inside will stay inside the graphite pebble and cannot escape to the surroundings even in the event of loss of cooling. Generally, the core can be designed using a graphite pebble bed. Some experimental and demonstration reactors have been operated using a pebble bed design. The test reactors have shown safe and efficient operation, however questions have been raised about possible occurrence of local hot spots in the pebble bed which may affect the pebble integrity. Analysis of the fuel integrity requires detailed evaluation of local heat transport phenomena in a pebble bed, and since such phenomena cannot easily be modelled experimentally, numerical simulations are a useful tool. As a part of a European project, named Thermal Hydraulics of Innovative Nuclear Systems (THINS), a benchmarking quasi-direct numerical simulation (q-DNS) of a well-defined pebble bed configuration has been performed. This q-DNS will serve as a reference database in order to evaluate the prediction capabilities of different turbulence modelling approaches. A wide range of numerical simulations based on different available turbulence modelling approaches are performed and compared with

In pebble bed high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTR), the fuel pebbles will pass the reactor core several times, in order to flatten the power distribution, and to unify the discharging burnup. But the VSOP code approximates the pebble bed flow because of current computer capability. In order to simulate the pebble bed flow in HTR more realistically and to validate the approximation in pebble bed flow model in VSOP, a new code based on Monte Carlo method has been developed to analysis the characteristic of the pebble bed flow, particularly the average burnup distribution in the core, discharging burnup, and the number of pebble passes. Statistics analysis shows that several millions of Monte Carlo simulation can provide reasonable result and the VSOP treatment of the pebble bed flow model is reasonable. The Monte Carlo simulation can provide more information for the pebble flow and reactor operation.

– The PEBBED code was developed at the Idaho National Laboratory for design and analysis of pebble-bed high temperature reactors. The diffusion-depletion-pebble-mixing algorithm of the original PEBBED code was enhanced through coupling with the THERMIX-KONVEK code for thermal fluid analysis and by the COMBINE code for online cross section generation. The COMBINE code solves the B-1 or B-3 approximations to the transport equation for neutron slowing down and resonance interactions in a homogeneous medium with simple corrections for shadowing and thermal self-shielding. The number densities of materials within specified regions of the core are averaged and transferred to COMBINE from PEBBED for updating during the burnup iteration. The simple treatment of self-shielding in previous versions of COMBINE led to inaccurate results for cross sections and unsatisfactory core performance calculations. A new version of COMBINE has been developed that treats all levels of heterogeneity using the 1D transport code ANISN. In a 3-stage calculation, slowing down is performed in 167 groups for each homogeneous subregion (kernel, particle layers, graphite shell, control rod absorber annulus, etc.) Particles in a local average pebble are homogenized using ANISN then passed to the next (pebble) stage. A 1D transport solution is again performed over the pebble geometry and the homogenized pebble cross sections are passed to a 1-d radial model of a wedge of the pebble bed core. This wedge may also include homogeneous reflector regions and a control rod region composed of annuli of different absorbing regions. Radial leakage effects are therefore captured with discrete ordinates transport while axial and azimuthal effects are captured with a transverse buckling term. In this paper, results of various PBR models will be compared with comparable models from literature. Performance of the code will be assessed.

In this study, the performance of two newly developed personal bioaerosol samplers for monitoring the level of environmental and occupational airborne microorganisms was evaluated. These new personal bioaerosol samplers were designed based on a swirling cyclone with recirculating liquid film. The performance evaluation included collection efficiency tests using inert aerosols, the bioaerosol survival test using viable airborne microorganism, and the evaluation of using non-aqueous collection liquid for long-period sampling. The test results showed that these two newly developed personal bioaerosol samplers are capable of doing high efficiency, aerosol sampling (the cutoff diameters are around 0.7 μm for both samplers), and have proven to provide acceptable survival for the collected bioaerosols. By using an appropriate non-aqueous collection liquid, these twopersonal bioaerosol samplers should be able to permit continuous, long-period bioaerosol sampling with considerable viability for the captured bioaerosols.

A novel modular technology that promised to make nuclear power cheaper and safer has suffered a serious blow following withdrawal of support from the South African government. It decided not to renew funding for the pebble-bed modular reactor beyond 31 March this year following a lack of interest from other investors and no customers for its product. The company developing the reactor concept - Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Ltd (PBMR) - is to axe three-quarters of its roughly 800 staff and its chief executive has resigned.

Sediment transport, due to primarily the action of water, wind and ice, is one of the most significant geomorphic processes responsible for shaping Earth's surface. It involves entrainment of sediment grains in rivers and estuaries due to the violently fluctuating hydrodynamic forces near the bed. Here an instrumented particle, namely a "smart pebble", is developed to investigate the exact flow conditions under which individual grains may be entrained from the surface of a gravel bed. This could lead in developing a better understanding of the processes involved, while focusing on the response of the particle during a variety of flow entrainment events. The "smart pebble" is a particle instrumented with MEMS sensors appropriate for capturing the hydrodynamic forces a coarse particle might experience during its entrainment from the river bed. A 3-axial gyroscope and accelerometer registers data to a memory card via a microcontroller, embedded in a 3D-printed waterproof hollow spherical particle. The instrumented board is appropriately fit and centred into the shell of the pebble, so as to achieve a nearly uniform distribution of the mass which could otherwise bias its motion. The "smart pebble" is powered by an independent power to ensure autonomy and sufficiently long periods of operation appropriate for deployment in the field. Post-processing and analysis of the acquired data is currently performed offline, using scientific programming software. The performance of the instrumented particle is validated, conducting a series of calibration experiments under well-controlled laboratory conditions. "Smart pebble" allows for a wider range of environmental sensors (e.g. for environmental/pollutant monitoring) to be incorporated so as to extend the range of its application, enabling accurate environmental monitoring which is required to ensure infrastructure resilience and preservation of ecological health.

I examine the standard model of planet formation, including pebble accretion, using numerical simulations. Planetary embryos large enough to become giant planets do not form beyond the ice line within a typical disk lifetime unless icy pebbles stick at higher speeds than in experiments using rocky pebbles. Systems like the Solar System (small inner planets, giant outer planets) can form if (i) icy pebbles are stickier than rocky pebbles, and (ii) the planetesimal formation efficiency increases with pebble size, which prevents the formation of massive terrestrial planets. Growth beyond the ice line is dominated by pebble accretion. Most growth occurs early, when the surface density of pebbles is high due to inward drift of pebbles from the outer disk. Growth is much slower after the outer disk is depleted. The outcome is sensitive to the disk radius and turbulence level, which control the lifetime and maximum size of pebbles. The outcome is sensitive to the size of the largest planetesimals since there is a th...

For the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Blanket, which is one of the two reference concepts studied within the European Fusion Technology Programme, the neutron multiplier consists of a mixed bed of about 2 and 0.1-0.2 mm diameter beryllium pebbles. Beryllium has no structural function in the blanket, however microstructural and mechanical properties are important, as they might influence the material behavior under neutron irradiation. The EXOTIC-7 as well as the `Beryllium` experiments carried out in the HFR reactor in Petten are considered as the most detailed and significant tests for investigating it. This paper reviews the present status of beryllium post-irradiation examinations performed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe with samples from these irradiation experiments, emphasizing the effects of irradiation of essential material properties and trying to elucidate the processes controlling the property changes. The microstructure, the porosity distribution, the impurity content, the behavior under compression loads and the compatibility of the beryllium pebbles with lithium orthosilicate (Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4}) during the in-pile irradiation are presented and critically discussed. Qualitative information on ductility and creep obtained by hardness-type measurements are also supplied. (author)

The pebble bed reactor's cylindrical core volume contains a random bed of small, spherical fuel-moderator elements. These graphite spheres, containing a central region of dispersed coated-particle fissile and fertile material, are cooled by high pressure helium flowing through the connected interstitial voids. A mathematical model and numerical solution technique have been developed which allow calculation of macroscopic values of thermal-hydraulic variables in an axisymmetric pebble bed nuclear reactor core. The computer program PEBBLE is based on a mathematical model which treats the bed macroscopically as a generating, conducting porous medium. The steady-state model uses a nonlinear Forchheimer-type relation between the coolant pressure gradient and mass flux, with newly derived coefficients for the linear and quadratic resistance terms. The remaining equations in the model make use of mass continuity, and thermal energy balances for the solid and fluid phases.

The influence of crushing of individual pebbles on the overall strength of a pebble assembly is investigated using discrete element method. An assembly comprising of 5000 spherical pebbles is assigned with random critical failure energies with a Weibull distribution in accordance with the experimental observation. Then, the pebble assembly is subjected to uni-axial compression ({epsilon}{sub 33}=1.5%) with periodic boundary conditions. The crushable pebble assembly shows a significant difference in stress-strain response in comparison to a non-crushable pebble assembly. The analysis shows that a ideal plasticity like behaviour (constant stress with increase in strain) is the characteristic of a crushable pebble assembly with sudden damage. The damage accumulation law plays a critical role in determining the critical stress while the critical number of completely failed pebbles at the onset of critical stress is independent of such a damage law. Furthermore, a loosely packed pebble assembly shows a higher crush resistance while the critical stress is insensitive to the packing factor ({eta}) of the assembly.

Selected tritium measurements have been completed for the COBRA-1A2 experiment C03 and D03 beryllium pebbles. The completed results, shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3, include the tritium assay results for the 1-mm and 3-mm C03 pebbles, and the 1-mm D03 pebbles, stepped anneal test results for both types of 1-mm pebbles, and the residual analyses for the stepped-anneal specimens. All results have been reported with date-of-count and are not corrected for decay. Stepped-anneal tritium release response is provided in addenda.

Highlights: • A CVR-SiC coating was successfully formed on graphite pebbles for neutron reflector. • Dense and fine-grained surface morphologies of the SiC coatings were observed. • Oxidation resistance of the CVR-SiC-coated graphite pebbles was improved. - Abstract: The new concept of the recently modified Helium-Cooled Ceramic Reflector (HCCR) Test Blanket Module (TBM) is to adopt a graphite reflector in the form of a pebble bed. A protective SiC coating is applied to the graphite pebbles to prohibit their reaction with steam or air as well as dust generation during TBM operation. In this research, the chemical vapor reaction (CVR) method was applied to fabricate SiC-coated graphite pebbles in a silica source. Relatively dense CVR-SiC coating was successfully formed on the graphite pebbles through the reduction of the graphite phase with SiO gas that was simply created from the silica source at 1850 °C (2 h). The microstructural features, XRD patterns, pore-size distribution and oxidation behavior of the SiC-coated graphite pebbles were investigated. To develop the practical process, which will be applied for mass production hereafter, a novel alternative method was applied to form the layer of SiC coating on the graphite pebbles over the silica source.

The High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) has exerted a peculiar attraction over nuclear engineers. Despite many unsuccessful attempts over half a century to develop it as a commercial power reactor, there is still a strong belief amongst many nuclear advocates that a highly successful HTGR technology will emerge. The most recent attempt to commercialize an HTGR design, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), was abandoned in 2010 after 12 years of effort and the expenditure of a large amount of South African public money. This article reviews this latest attempt to commercialize an HTGR design and attempts to identify which issues have led to its failure and what lessons can be learnt from this experience. It concludes that any further attempts to develop HTGRs using Pebble Bed technology should only be undertaken if there is a clear understanding of why earlier attempts have failed and a high level of confidence that earlier problems have been overcome. It argues that the PBMR project has exposed serious weaknesses in accountability mechanisms for the expenditure of South African public money. - Research highlights: {yields} In this study we examine the reasons behind the failure of the South African PBMR programme. {yields} The study reviews the technical issues that have arisen and lessons for future reactor developments. {yields} The study also identifies weaknesses in the accountability mechanisms for public spending.

Highlights: • An analysis approach is proposed to conduct SAU analysis of filling fraction of pebble bed core. • The contribution of uncertainty in filling fraction to key parameters of pebble bed core is quantified. • The primary drivers of the uncertainty in the key parameters are identified by sensitivity analysis. • Mechanism of effect of uncertainty in the filling fraction to key parameters is studied in depth. - Abstract: The filling fraction of pebble bed in each small region has some uncertainty, which will contribute to the total uncertainty in the key parameters of pebble bed core, such as power peak, axial offset, k{sub eff} and so on. In fact, the heavy metal content and graphite content of the corresponding region will change synchronously due to the perturbation of filling fraction but the ratio of atomic number density of moderator to the fuel (carbon–uranium) is still constant. To investigate these effects, the Chinese demonstration plant HTR-PM was selected as the research object and the VSOP code and CUSA package were used to conduct detailed analysis of the influence of the uncertainty in the filling fraction on the HTR-PM output variables of interest, based on the propagation of input uncertainties by using statistical sampling method to calculate uncertainty and sensitivity information from the simulation results. At the same time, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of uranium loading had also been conducted for comparative analysis to study the mechanism of effect of uncertainty in the filling fraction to key parameters, and therefore only the heavy metal content of the corresponding region changes in the presence of perturbation of uranium loading. Finally, the propagated uncertainty in the power peak, axial offset and k{sub eff} of HTR-PM core was obtained and the primary drivers of the uncertainty in the key parameters were identified by sensitivity analysis.

Full Text Available This paper describes the computational simulation of contact zones between pebbles in a pebble bed reactor. In this type of reactor, the potential for graphite dust generation from frictional contact of graphite pebbles and the subsequent transport of dust and fission products can cause significant safety issues at very high temperatures around 900 °C in HTRs. The present simulation is an initial attempt to quantify the amount of nuclear grade graphite dust produced within a very high temperature reactor.

Barbanel, Brams, and Stromquist (in 2009) asked whether there exists a two-person moving-knife procedure that yields an envy-free, undominated, and equitable division of a pie. We present two procedures: One yields an envy-free, almost undominated, and almost equitable allocation, whereas the second yields an allocation with the two "almost"…

We present a model in which planetesimal disks are built from the combination of planetesimal formation and accretion of radially drifting pebbles onto existing planetesimals. In this model, the rate of accretion of pebbles onto planetesimals quickly outpaces the rate of direct planetesimal formation in the inner disk. This allows for the formation of a high mass inner disk without the need for enhanced planetesimal formation or a massive protoplanetary disk. Our proposed mechanism for planetesimal disk growth does not require any special conditions to operate. Consequently, we expect that high mass planetesimal disks form naturally in nearly all systems. The extent of this growth is controlled by the total mass in pebbles that drifts through the inner disk. Anything that reduces the rate or duration of pebble delivery will correspondingly reduce the final mass of the planetesimal disk. Therefore, we expect that low mass stars (with less massive protoplanetary disks), low metallicity stars and stars with gian...

Pebble accretion is a new mechanism to quickly grow the cores of planets. In pebble accretion, gravity and gas drag conspire to yield large collisional cross sections for small particles in protoplanetary disks. However, before pebble accretion commences, aerodynamical deflection may act to prevent planetesimals from becoming large, because particles tend to follow gas streamlines. We derive the planetesimal radius where pebble accretion is initiated and determine the growth timescales of planetesimals by sweepup of small particles. We obtain the collision efficiency factor as the ratio of the numerically-obtained collisional cross section to the planetesimal surface area, from which we obtain the growth timescales. Integrations are conducted in the potential flow limit (steady, inviscid) and in the Stokes flow regime (steady, viscid). Only particles of stopping time $t_s \\ll t_X$ where $t_X\\approx10^3$ s experience aerodynamic deflection. Even in that case, the planetesimal's gravity always ensures positive ...

In this paper we presents the equation of thermal diffusion of temporary-fractional order in the one-dimensional space in spherical coordinates, with the objective to analyze the heat transference between the fuel and coolant in a fuel element of a Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. The pebble fuel is the heterogeneous system made by microsphere constitutes by U O, pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide mixed with graphite. To describe the heat transfer phenomena in the pebble fuel we applied a constitutive law fractional (Non-Fourier) in order to analyze the behaviour transient of the temperature distribution in the pebble fuel with anomalous thermal diffusion effects a numerical model is developed. (Author)

The main motivation behind this thesis is a certain type of win-lose games that are played on hypergraphs and can be translated into the following puzzle. Suppose there are twopersons, say Alice and Bob. There are n biscuits, where n is a positive integer, and Alice chooses s of them uniformly at r

Highlights: • Experimental activities to characterize the Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4}. • Compression tests of pebbles. • Experimental evaluation of thermal conductivity of pebbles bed at different temperatures. • Experimental test with/without compression load. - Abstract: An open issue for fusion power reactor is to design a suitable breeding blanket capable to produce the necessary quantity of the tritium and to transfer the energy of the nuclear fusion reaction to the coolant. The envisaged solution called Helium-Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) breeding blanket foresees the use of lithium orthosilicate (Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4}) or lithium metatitanate (Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) pebble beds. The thermal mechanical properties of the candidate pebble bed materials are presently extensively investigated because they are critical for the feasibility and performances of the numerous conceptual designs which use a solid breeder. This study is aimed at the investigation of mechanical properties of the lithium orthosilicate and at the characterization of the main chemical, physical and thermo-mechanical properties taking into account the production technology. In doing that at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering (DICI) of the University of Pisa adequate experiments were carried out. The obtained results may contribute to characterize the material of the pebbles and to optimize the design of the envisaged fusion breeding blankets.

Full Text Available Prisoner’s Dilemma, Chicken, Stag Hunts, and other two-person two-move (2 × 2 models of strategic situations have played a central role in the development of game theory. The Robinson–Goforth topology of payoff swaps reveals a natural order in the payoff space of 2 × 2 games, visualized in their four-layer “periodic table” format that elegantly organizes the diversity of 2 × 2 games, showing relationships and potential transformations between neighboring games. This article presents additional visualizations of the topology, and a naming system for locating all 2 × 2 games as combinations of game payoff patterns from the symmetric ordinal 2 × 2 games. The symmetric ordinal games act as coordinates locating games in maps of the payoff space of 2 × 2 games, including not only asymmetric ordinal games and the complete set of games with ties, but also ordinal and normalized equivalents of all games with ratio or real-value payoffs. An efficient nomenclature can contribute to a systematic understanding of the diversity of elementary social situations; clarify relationships between social dilemmas and other joint preference structures; identify interesting games; show potential solutions available through transforming incentives; catalog the variety of models of 2 × 2 strategic situations available for experimentation, simulation, and analysis; and facilitate cumulative and comparative research in game theory.

User-friendly, visually appealing collection offers both new and classic strategic board games. Includes abstract games for two and three players and mathematical games such as Nim and games on graphs.

The contaminant concentration inhaled by an occupant (ie. the personal exposure) is usually less than the return concentration in displacement ventilated rooms. Two main questions are investigated: 1) Does the exhalation from one person penetrate the breathing zone of another person placed nearby......, thus leading to larger personal exposure? 2) When twopersons are placed close to each other, do the convective boundary layer flows interact so that the personal exposure to an ambient concentration field is altered?...

Mulching of agricultural fields and gardens with pebbles has long been practiced to conserve soil moisture in some semi-arid regions with low precipitation. Rainfall interception by the pebble mulch itself is an important part of the computation of the water balance for the pebble mulched fields and gardens. The mean equivalent diameter (MED) was used to characterize the pebble size. The maximum static rainfall retention in pebble mulch is based on the water penetrating into the pores of pebbles, the water adhering to the outside surfaces of pebbles and the water held between pebbles of the mulch. Equations describing the water penetrating into the pores of pebbles and the water adhering to the outside surface of pebbles are constructed based on the physical properties of water and the pebble characteristics. The model for the water between pebbles of the mulch is based on the basic equation to calculate the water bridge volume and the basic coordination number model. A method to calculate the maximum static rainfall retention in the pebble mulch is presented. Laboratory rain simulation experiments were performed to test the model with measured data. Paired sample t-tests showed no significant differences between the values calculated with the method and the measured data. The model is ready for testing on field mulches.

and portfolio choice taking into account differences in preferences for saving. The model is a non-cooperative game in which each person can use their own current income to contribute to current (household) consumption or to a range of assets. The results derived are in marked contrast to 'unitary' models...

In this paper a calculation procedure to reduce the power peak in the core of a Very High Temperature pebble bed Reactor is presented. This procedure combines the fuel depletion and the neutronic behavior of the fuel in the reactor core, modeling once-through-then-out cycles as well as cycles in which pebbles are recirculated through the core an arbitrary number of times, obtaining the asymptotic fuel-loading pattern. The procedure consists in several coupled computational codes, which are used iteratively until convergence is reached. The utilization of the MCNPX 2.6e, as one of these computational codes, is validated through the calculation of benchmarks announced by IAEA (IAEA-TECDOC-1249, 2001). To complete the verification of the calculation procedure a base case described in (Annals of Nuclear Energy 29 (2002) 1345-1364), was performed. The procedure has been applied to a model of Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (200 MW) design. (author)

The tritium loading of current grades of advanced ceramic breeder pebbles with three different lithium orthosilicate (LOS)/lithium metatitanate (LMT) compositions (20-30 mol% LMT in LOS) and pebbles of EU reference material, was performed in a consistent way. The temperature dependent release of the introduced tritium was subsequently investigated by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments to gain insight into the desorption characteristics. The obtained TPD data was decomposed into individual release mechanisms according to well-established desorption kinetics. The analysis showed that the pebble composition of the tested samples does not severely change the release behaviour. Yet, an increased content of lithium metatitanate leads to additional desorption peaks at medium temperatures. The majority of tritium is released by high temperature release mechanisms of chemisorbed tritium, while the release of physisorbed tritium is marginal in comparison. The results allow valuable projections for the tritium release behaviour in a fusion blanket.

The key results of this study are that very high heat fluxes are accessible in the operation space of ferromagnetic pebbles, that ferromagnetic pebbles are compatible with tokamak operation and current divertor designs, that the heat removal capability of ferromagnetic pebbles increases as λq decreases and, finally, that for fusion relevant values of q∥ pebble diameters below 100 μm are required.

This project intends to contribute to the national PBR technology development by improving the system code and investigating the applicability of CFD code to pebble core. This project consists of five research tasks below to consequently contribute to the assessment of reactor types for hydrogen production by producing a set of experimental data and the results of CFD code model assessment. Turbulent flow experiment and model assessment. CFD analysis for local flow field and heat transfer in pebble core. Experiment on accident flow and assessment of CFD applicability. Sensitivity analysis for geometrical parameters of inlet plenum. Experiment on effective thermal conductivity and model improvement.

Based on the bimatrix game theory, the network data transmission has been depicted in a game theory way: the actions of the attacker and defender (legitimate users) are depicted within a two-person, non-cooperative and bimatrix game model, this paper proves the existence of the Nash equilibrium theoretically, which is further illustrated by the experimental results.

Atmospheric chemical abundances of giant planets lead to important constraints on planetary formation and migration. Recent studies have shown that giant planets that migrate through the protoplanetary disk can accrete substantial amounts of oxygen-rich solids, leading to super-solar metallicities in the envelope and solar or sub-solar C/O ratios. Pebble accretion has been demonstrated recently to play an important role in core accretion and to have growth rates that are consistent with planetary migration. The high pebble accretion rates allow planetary cores to start their growth beyond 10 AU and subsequently migrate to cold (>~ 1 AU) or hot (pebble accretion influences their atmospheric chemical compositions. We find that under the standard pebble accretion scenario, where the core is isolated from the envelope, the resulting metallicities (O/H and C/H ratios) are sub-solar, while the C/O ratios are super-solar. Planet...

Beryllium is planned to be used as a neutron multiplier in the Helium-cooled Pebble Bed European concept of a breeding blanket of demonstration power reactor DEMO. In order to evaluate the irradiation performance, individual pebbles and constrained pebble beds were neutron-irradiated at temperatures typical of fusion blankets. Beryllium pebbles 1 mm in diameter produced by the rotating electrode method were subjected to a TEM study before and after irradiation at High Flux Reactor, Petten, Netherlands at 861 K. The grain size varied in a wide range from sub-micron size up to several tens of micrometers, which indicated formation bimodal grain size distribution. Based on the application of combined electron energy loss spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy methods, we suggest that impurity precipitates play an important role in controlling the mechanical properties of beryllium. The impurity elements were present in beryllium at a sub-percent concentration form beryllide particles of a complex (Fe/Al/Mn/Cr)B composition. These particles are often ordered along dislocations lines, forming several micron-long chains. It can be suggested that fracture surfaces often extended along these chains in irradiated material.

To more accurately predict the temperature distribution inside the reactor core of pebble bed type high temperature reactors, in this thesis we investigated the stochastic properties of randomly stacked beds and the effects of the non-homogeneity of these beds on the neutronics and thermal-hydraulic

Beryllium is planned to be used as a neutron multiplier in the Helium-cooled Pebble Bed European concept of a breeding blanket of demonstration power reactor DEMO. In order to evaluate the irradiation performance, individual pebbles and constrained pebble beds were neutron-irradiated at temperatures typical of fusion blankets. Beryllium pebbles 1 mm in diameter produced by the rotating electrode method were subjected to a TEM study before and after irradiation at High Flux Reactor, Petten, Netherlands at 861 K. The grain size varied in a wide range from sub-micron size up to several tens of micrometers, which indicated formation bimodal grain size distribution. Based on the application of combined electron energy loss spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy methods, we suggest that impurity precipitates play an important role in controlling the mechanical properties of beryllium. The impurity elements were present in beryllium at a sub-percent concentration form beryllide particles of a complex (Fe/Al/Mn/Cr)B composition. These particles are often ordered along dislocations lines, forming several micron-long chains. It can be suggested that fracture surfaces often extended along these chains in irradiated material.

CFD results and empirical correlations’ predictions of pressure drop and local Nusselt numbers. Local pebble surface temperature distributions in several default conditions are investigated. Thermal removal capacities of molten salt are confirmed in the case of nominal condition; the pebble surface temperature under the condition of local power distortion shows the tolerance of pebble in extreme neutron dose exposure. The numerical experiments of local pebble insufficient cooling indicate that in the molten salt cooled pebble bed reactor, the pebble surface temperature is not very sensitive to loss of partial coolant. The methods and results of this paper would be useful for optimum designs and safety analysis of molten salt cooled pebble bed reactors.

textabstractThis paper deals with algorithms searching trees generated by two-person, zero-sum games with perfect information. The standard algorithm in this field is alpha-beta. We will discuss this algorithm as well as extensions, like transposition tables, iterative deepening and NegaScout. Speci

This paper analyses the role of transfer payments and strategic con- tracting within two-person strategic form games with monetary pay- offs. First, it introduces the notion of transfer equilibrium as a strat- egy combination for which individual stability can be supported by allowing the possibilit

textabstractThis paper deals with algorithms searching trees generated by two-person, zero-sum games with perfect information. The standard algorithm in this field is alpha-beta. We will discuss this algorithm as well as extensions, like transposition tables, iterative deepening and NegaScout.

Highlights: • Pebble Flow fields at Pebble Bed Modular Reactor was investigated. • Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) technique has been used. • Plug flow type velocity profile is suggested at upper cylindrical region. - Abstract: The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) that is conceptually very similar to moving bed reactors used in the chemical and petrochemical industries. In a PBMR core, nuclear fuel is in the form of pebbles and moves slowly under the influence of gravity. In this work, an integrated experimental and computational study of granular flow in a scaled-down cold flow PBMR was performed. A continuous pebble re-circulation experimental set-up, mimicking the flow of pebbles in a PBMR was designed and developed. An experimental investigation of pebble flow dynamics in a scaled down test reactor was carried out using a non-invasive radioactive particle tracking (RPT) technique that used a cobalt-60 based tracer to mimic pebbles in terms of shape, size and density. A cross-correlation based position reconstruction algorithm and RPT calibration data were used to obtain results about Lagrangian trajectories, the velocity field, and residence time distributions. The RPT technique results a serve as a benchmark data for assessing contact force models used in the discrete element method (DEM) simulations.

Game theory is the standard tool used to model strategic interactions in evolutionary biology and social science. Traditional game theory studies the equilibria of simple games. But is traditional game theory applicable if the game is complicated, and if not, what is? We investigate this question here, defining a complicated game as one with many possible moves, and therefore many possible payoffs conditional on those moves. We investigate two-persongames in which the players learn based on experience. By generating games at random we show that under some circumstances the strategies of the two players converge to fixed points, but under others they follow limit cycles or chaotic attractors. The dimension of the chaotic attractors can be very high, implying that the dynamics of the strategies are effectively random. In the chaotic regime the payoffs fluctuate intermittently, showing bursts of rapid change punctuated by periods of quiescence, similar to what is observed in fluid turbulence and financial marke...

The land-pebble phosphate district is on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida. The phosphate deposits are in the Bone Valley formation, dated Pliocene by most writers. These strata overlie the Miocene Hawthorn formation and are overlain by consolidated sands 3 to 20 feet thick. The minable phosphate deposits, called “matrix” in the district, range from a featheredge to about 50 feet in thickness and consist of phosphatic pellets and nodules, quartz sand, and montmorillonitic clay in about equal proportions. Locally the matrix displays cross-bedding and horizontal laminations, but elsewhere it is structureless. The phosphorite particles, composed largely of carbonate-fluorapatite, range in diameter from less than 0.1 mm to about 60 cm and in P2O5 content from 30 to 36 percent. Coarse-pebble deposits, containing 30 to 34 percent P2O5 are found mainly on basement highs; and fine-pebble deposits, containing 32 to 36 percent P2O5 are, are found in basement lows. Deposits in the northern part of the field contain more phosphate particles and their P2O5 content is higher than those in the southern part. The upper part of the phosphatic strata is leached to an advanced degree and consists of quartz sand and clay-sized particules of pseudowavellite and wavellite. The leached zone ranges in thickness from a featheredge to 60 feet. The origin of the land-pebble deposits is incompletely known. Possible modes of origin are a residuum of Miocene age, or a reworked residuum of Pliocene or Quaternary age.

Atmospheric chemical abundances of giant planets lead to important constraints on planetary formation and migration. Studies have shown that giant planets that migrate through the protoplanetary disc can accrete substantial amounts of oxygen-rich planetesimals, leading to supersolar metallicities in the envelope and solar or subsolar C/O ratios. Pebble accretion has been demonstrated to play an important role in core accretion and to have growth rates that are consistent with planetary migration. The high pebble accretion rates allow planetary cores to start their growth beyond 10 au and subsequently migrate to cold (≳1 au), warm (˜0.1-1 au) or hot (≲0.1 au) orbits. In this work we investigate how the formation of giant planets via pebble accretion influences their atmospheric chemical compositions. We find that under the standard pebble accretion scenario, where the core is isolated from the envelope, the resulting metallicities (O/H and C/H ratios) are subsolar, while the C/O ratios are supersolar. Planets that migrate through the disc to become hot Jupiters accrete substantial amounts of water vapour, but still acquire slightly subsolar O/H and supersolar C/O of 0.7-0.8. The metallicity can be substantially subsolar (˜0.2-0.5 × solar) and the C/O can even approach 1.0 if the planet accretes its envelope mostly beyond the CO2 ice line, i.e. cold Jupiters or hot Jupiters that form far out and migrate in by scattering. Allowing for core erosion yields significantly supersolar metallicities and solar or subsolar C/O, which can also be achieved by other means, e.g. photoevaporation and late-stage planetesimal accretion.

Achieving a high fuel burnup in the Deep-Burn (DB) pebble bed reactor design, while remaining within the limits for fuel temperature, power peaking and temperature reactivity feedback, is challenging. The high content of Pu and Minor Actinides in the Deep-Burn fuel significantly impacts the thermal neutron energy spectrum as compared to a ’standard’ UO2 fueled core. This can result in power and temperature peaking in the pebble bed core in locally thermalized regions near the graphite reflectors. Furthermore, the interplay of the Pu resonances of the neutron absorption cross sections at low-lying energies can lead to a positive temperature reactivity coefficient for the graphite moderator at certain operating conditions. The DB concept focuses on the destruction of spent fuel transuranics in TRISO coated particle fueled gas-cooled reactors with the aim of a fractional fuel burnup of 60-70% in fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA), using a single-pass, multi in-core fuel (re)cycling scheme. In principle, the DB pebble bed concept employs the same reactor designs as the present low enriched uranium core designs, i.e. the 400 MWth Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR-400). A Pu and Minor Actinide fueled PBMR-400 design serves as the starting point for a core optimization study. The fuel temperature, power peak, temperature reactivity coefficients, and burnup capabilities of the modified designs are analyzed with the PEBBED code. A code-to-code coupling with the PASTA code allows for the analysis of the TRISO fuel performance for both normal and Loss Of Forced Cooling conditions. An improved core design is sought, maximizing the fuel discharge burnup, while retaining negative temperature reactivity feedback coefficients for the entire temperature range and avoiding high fuel temperatures (fuel failure probabilities).

The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor is a high temperature gas cooled reactor which uses helium gas as a coolant. The reactor uses spherical graphite pebbles as fuel. The fuel design is inherently resistant to the release of the radioactive material up to high temperatures; therefore, the plant can withstand a broad spectrum of accidents with limited release of radionuclides to the environment. Despite safety features of the concepts, these reactors still contain large inventories of radioactive materials. The transport of most of the radioactive materials in an accident occurs in the form of aerosol particles. In this dissertation, the limits of applicability of existing computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT to the prediction of aerosol transport have been explored. The code was run using the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes turbulence models to determine the effects of different turbulence models on the prediction of aerosol particle deposition. Analyses were performed for up to three unit cells in the orthorhombic configuration. For low flow conditions representing natural circulation driven flow, the laminar flow model was used and the results were compared with existing experimental data for packed beds. The results compares well with experimental data in the low flow regime. For conditions corresponding to normal operating of the reactor, analyses were performed using the standard k-ɛ turbulence model. From the inertial deposition results, a correlation that can be used to estimate the deposition of aerosol particles within pebble beds given inlet flow conditions has been developed. These results were converted into a dimensionless form as a function of a modified Stokes number. Based on results obtained in the laminar regime and for individual pebbles, the correlation developed for the inertial impaction component of deposition is believed to be credible. The form of the correlation developed also allows these results to be applied to pebble beds of different

Recirculating pebble-bed reactors are distinguished from all other reactor types by the downward movement through and reinsertion of fuel into the core during operation. Core simulators must account for this movement and mixing in order to capture the physics of the equilibrium cycle core. VSOP and PEBBED are two codes used to perform such simulations, but they do so using different methods. In this study, a simplified pebble-bed core with a specified flux profile and cross sections is used as the model for conducting analyses of two types of burnup schemes. The differences between the codes are described and related to the differences observed in the nuclide densities in pebbles discharged from the core. Differences in the methods for computing fission product buildup and average number densities lead to significant differences in the computed core power and eigenvalue. These test models provide a key component of an overall equilibrium cycle benchmark involving neutron transport, cross section generation, and fuel circulation.

In the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Blanket, studied within the European Fusion Technology Programme, beryllium in form of pebbles is used as neutron multiplier. The thermal-mechanical behaviour of a pebble bed strongly depends on the packing factor of the bed. In a binary pebble bed, in particular, a homogeneous distribution of small pebbles between the larger ones (infiltrated bed) has to be ensured in order to obtain a behaving homogeneously bed. Thus, a detailed non-destructive control of the pebble bed configuration can provide an important help in interpreting the pebble bed thermal mechanical characterisation test results. A three-dimensional (3-D) computer aided microtomography (CMT) experimental setup developed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) allowed to reconstruct 3-D images of the attenuation coefficient of a X-ray synchrotron radiation beam within a pebble bed without physically damaging it. By post-processing the acquired data, very useful quantitative informations were obtained (local and average void fraction in the sample, impurities and micro-cracks in the pebbles). In the present work, the micrographic technique and the first results of the analysis are presented and critically discussed in view of a future application for a medium scale HCPB Blanket mock-up.

Highlights: • The recycling of advanced breeder pebbles without a deterioration of the material properties is possible using a melt-based process. • The only accumulation of impurities upon reprocessing, results from the platinum crucible alloy used for processing. • It is possible to replenish burnt-up lithium by additions of LiOH·H{sub 2}O to the melt during reprocessing. - Abstract: The recycling of tritium breeding materials will be necessary for any future use of nuclear fusion energy due to economical as well as ecological considerations. In the case of the solid breeder blanket concept, the ceramic pebble beds that are intended for the generation of tritium will eventually need to be restored due to depleted lithium levels as well as due to fractured pebbles, which will cause a deterioration of the pebble bed properties. It is proposed that the pebbles, which are fabricated using a melt-based process, are recycled using the same initial process, by replenishing the lithium levels and reforming the pebbles at the same time. To prove this recycling scheme, advanced ceramic pebbles were fabricated and then re-melted multiple times to prove that the reprocessing did not have any negative effect on the pebble properties and secondly, pebbles were produced with a simulated lithium burn-up and subsequently replenished by additions of LiOH to the melt. It was shown that the re-melting and lithium re-enrichment had no effect on the pebble properties, demonstrating that a melt-based process is suitable for recycling used breeder pebbles.

Highlights: • Particle swarm method has been developed for fuel cycle optimization of PBR reactor. • Results show uranium utilization low sensitivity to fuel and core design parameters. • Multi-zone fuel loading pattern leads to a small improvement in uranium utilization. • Thorium mixes with highly enriched uranium yields the best uranium utilization. - Abstract: Pebble bed reactors (PBR) features, such as robust thermo-mechanical fuel design and on-line continuous fueling, facilitate wide range of fuel cycle alternatives. A range off fuel pebble types, containing different amounts of fertile or fissile fuel material, may be loaded into the reactor core. Several fuel loading zones may be used since radial mixing of the pebbles was shown to be limited. This radial separation suggests the possibility to implement the “seed-blanket” concept for the utilization of fertile fuels such as thorium, and for enhancing reactor fuel utilization. In this study, the particle-swarm meta-heuristic evolutionary optimization method (PSO) has been used to find optimal fuel cycle design which yields the highest natural uranium utilization. The PSO method is known for solving efficiently complex problems with non-linear objective function, continuous or discrete parameters and complex constrains. The VSOP system of codes has been used for PBR fuel utilization calculations and MATLAB script has been used to implement the PSO algorithm. Optimization of PBR natural uranium utilization (NUU) has been carried out for 3000 MWth High Temperature Reactor design (HTR) operating on the Once Trough Then Out (OTTO) fuel management scheme, and for 400 MWth Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) operating on the multi-pass (MEDUL) fuel management scheme. Results showed only a modest improvement in the NUU (<5%) over reference designs. Investigation of thorium fuel cases showed that the use of HEU in combination with thorium results in the most favorable reactor performance in terms of

Highlights: • This study explicitly demonstrates the influence of the gas pressure on the effective thermal conductivity of pebble beds. • The gas pressure influence is shown to correlated to the pebble size. • The effective thermal conductivity is linked to thermal-mechanical properties of pebbles and packing structure. - Abstract: Lithium ceramics have been considered as tritium breeder materials in many proposed designs of fusion breeding blankets. Heat generated in breeder pebble beds due to nuclear breeding reaction must be removed by means of actively cooled plates while generated tritiums is recovered by purge gas slowly flowing through beds. Therefore, the effective thermal conductivity of pebble beds that is one of the governing parameters determining heat transport phenomenon needs to be addressed with respect to mechanical status of beds and purge gas pressure. In this study, a numerical framework combining finite element simulation and a semi-empirical correlation of gas gap conduction is proposed to predict the effective thermal conductivity. The purge gas pressure is found to vary the effective thermal conductivity, in particular with the presence of various sized gaps in pebble beds. Random packing of pebble beds is taken into account by an approximated correlation considering the packing factor and coordination number of pebble beds. The model prediction is compared with experimental observation from different sources showing a quantitative agreement with the measurement.

Modular pebble-bed nuclear reactor (MPBNR) technology is promising due to its attractive features such as high fuel performance and inherent safety. Particle motion of fuel and graphite pebbles is highly associated with the performance of pebbled-bed modular nuclear reactor. To understand the mechanism of pebble’s motion in the reactor, we numerically studied the influence of number ratio of fuel and graphite pebbles, funnel angle of the reactor, height of guide ring on the distribution of pe...

In its deployment as a pebble bed reactor (PBR) critical facility from 1992 to 1996, the PROTEUS facility was designated as HTR-PROTEUS. This experimental program was performed as part of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the Validation of Safety Related Physics Calculations for Low Enriched HTGRs. Within this project, critical experiments were conducted for graphite moderated LEU systems to determine core reactivity, flux and power profiles, reaction-rate ratios, the worth of control rods, both in-core and reflector based, the worth of burnable poisons, kinetic parameters, and the effects of moisture ingress on these parameters. Four benchmark experiments were evaluated in this report: Cores 1, 1A, 2, and 3. These core configurations represent the hexagonal close packing (HCP) configurations of the HTR-PROTEUS experiment with a moderator-to-fuel pebble ratio of 1:2. Core 1 represents the only configuration utilizing ZEBRA control rods. Cores 1A, 2, and 3 use withdrawable, hollow, stainless steel control rods. Cores 1 and 1A are similar except for the use of different control rods; Core 1A also has one less layer of pebbles (21 layers instead of 22). Core 2 retains the first 16 layers of pebbles from Cores 1 and 1A and has 16 layers of moderator pebbles stacked above the fueled layers. Core 3 retains the first 17 layers of pebbles but has polyethylene rods inserted between pebbles to simulate water ingress. The additional partial pebble layer (layer 18) for Core 3 was not included as it was used for core operations and not the reported critical configuration. Cores 1, 1A, 2, and 3 were determined to be acceptable benchmark experiments.

In its deployment as a pebble bed reactor (PBR) critical facility from 1992 to 1996, the PROTEUS facility was designated as HTR-PROTEUS. This experimental program was performed as part of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the Validation of Safety Related Physics Calculations for Low Enriched HTGRs. Within this project, critical experiments were conducted for graphite moderated LEU systems to determine core reactivity, flux and power profiles, reaction-rate ratios, the worth of control rods, both in-core and reflector based, the worth of burnable poisons, kinetic parameters, and the effects of moisture ingress on these parameters. Four benchmark experiments were evaluated in this report: Cores 1, 1A, 2, and 3. These core configurations represent the hexagonal close packing (HCP) configurations of the HTR-PROTEUS experiment with a moderator-to-fuel pebble ratio of 1:2. Core 1 represents the only configuration utilizing ZEBRA control rods. Cores 1A, 2, and 3 use withdrawable, hollow, stainless steel control rods. Cores 1 and 1A are similar except for the use of different control rods; Core 1A also has one less layer of pebbles (21 layers instead of 22). Core 2 retains the first 16 layers of pebbles from Cores 1 and 1A and has 16 layers of moderator pebbles stacked above the fueled layers. Core 3 retains the first 17 layers of pebbles but has polyethylene rods inserted between pebbles to simulate water ingress. The additional partial pebble layer (layer 18) for Core 3 was not included as it was used for core operations and not the reported critical configuration. Cores 1, 1A, 2, and 3 were determined to be acceptable benchmark experiments.

The particle size distribution of beryllium pebbles produced by the rotating electrode method was investigated. Particle size depends on some physical properties and process parameters, which can practicaly be controlled by varying electrode angular velocities. The average particle sizes produced were expressed by the hyperbolic function with electrode angular velocity. Particles within the range of 0.3 and 2.0 mm in diameter are readily produced by the rotating electrode method while those of 0.2 mm in diameter are also fabricable. Sphericity and surface roughness were good in each size of pebble. Grain sizes of the pebbles are 17 {mu} m in 0.25 mm diameter pebbles and 260 {mu} m in 1.8 mm diameter pebbles. (author)

This report reviews literature on reprocessing high temperature gas-cooled reactor graphite fuel components. A basic review of the various fuel components used in the pebble bed type reactors is provided along with a survey of synthesis methods for the fabrication of the fuel components. Several disposal options are considered for the graphite pebble fuel elements including the storage of intact pebbles, volume reduction by separating the graphite from fuel kernels, and complete processing of the pebbles for waste storage. Existing methods for graphite removal are presented and generally consist of mechanical separation techniques such as crushing and grinding chemical techniques through the use of acid digestion and oxidation. Potential methods for reprocessing the graphite pebbles include improvements to existing methods and novel technologies that have not previously been investigated for nuclear graphite waste applications. The best overall method will be dependent on the desired final waste form and needs to factor in the technical efficiency, political concerns, cost, and implementation.

Though ~10 Earth mass rocky/icy cores are commonly held as a prerequisite for the formation of gas giants, theoretical models still struggle to explain how these embryos can form within the lifetimes of gaseous circumstellar disks. In recent years, aerodynamic-aided accretion of "pebbles," objects ranging from centimeters to meters in size, has been suggested as a potential solution to this long-standing problem. While pebble accretion has been demonstrated to be extremely effective in local simulations that look at the detailed behavior of these pebbles in the vicinity of a single planetary embryo, to date there have been no global simulations demonstrating the effectiveness of pebble accretion in a more complicated, multi-planet environment. Therefore, we have incorporated the aerodynamic-aided accretion physics into LIPAD, a Lagrangian code which can follow the collisional / accretional / dynamical evolution of a protoplanetary system, to investigate the how pebble accretion manifests itself in the larger ...

For helium cooled pebble bed blankets, the description of the thermal-mechanical interaction between pebble beds and structural material requires the knowledge of the pebble bed thermal conductivity k as a function of temperature T and deformation state (pebble bed strain {epsilon}). In the frame of the EFDA Technology Work Programme TW2-TTBB-007a-D4, the measurements of thermal and mechanical parameters of beryllium pebble beds have been performed in the HECOP facility in the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. This report gives a summary of previous work on the thermal conductivity k of beryllium pebble beds, describes the experimental set-up, and presents the new experimental results. The investigated pebble beds, consisting of 1 mm pebbles, are representative for dense pebble beds (vibrated after filling, packing factors of {approx}63.5%). Measurements were performed at bed temperatures between 200 and 650 C and maximum pebble bed deformations up to 3.5%. For this parameter range, two different correlations for the thermal conductivity k as a function of pebble bed deformation {epsilon} and temperature T are proposed. The first one is primarily based on measurements but makes use of the conductivity values for non-deformed pebble beds predicted by the Schluender Bauer Zehner (SBZ) model. (orig.)

This volume lays the mathematical foundations for the theory of differential games, developing a rigorous mathematical framework with existence theorems. It begins with a precise definition of a differential game and advances to considerations of games of fixed duration, games of pursuit and evasion, the computation of saddle points, games of survival, and games with restricted phase coordinates. Final chapters cover selected topics (including capturability and games with delayed information) and N-person games.Geared toward graduate students, Differential Games will be of particular interest

A philosophical analysis of play and games is undertaken in this paper. Playful gaming, which is shown to be a synthesis of play and games, is utilized as a category for undertaking the examination of play and games. The significance of playful gaming to education is demonstrated through analyses of Plato's, Dewey's, Sartre's, and Marcuse's…

Full Text Available We present a series of two-persongames, which lead to various DEA models. The relationship between the DEA models and the games is explicit in our setting, although the Nash equilibrium solutions do not generally exist. Besides the classic DEA models, we also establish an explicit relationship between the games and some extended DEA models, such as free disposable hull DEA models and “negative” or “inverted” DEA models.

In this paper we provide characterizations of convex games and total clan games by using properties of their corresponding marginal games.We show that a "dualize and restrict" procedure transforms total clan games with zero worth for the clan into monotonic convex games.Furthermore, each monotonic

Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles were successfully fabricated by using a freeze drying process. The Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} slurry was prepared using a commercial powder of particle size 0.5–1.5 μm and the pebble pre-form was prepared by dropping the slurry into liquid nitrogen through a syringe needle. The droplets were rapidly frozen, changing their morphology to spherical pebbles. The frozen pebbles were dried at −10 °C in vacuum. To make crack-free pebbles, some glycerin was employed in the slurry, and long drying time and a low vacuum condition were applied in the freeze drying process. In the process, the solid content in the slurry influenced the spheroidicity of the pebble green body. The dried pebbles were sintered at 1200 °C in an air atmosphere. The sintered pebbles showed almost 40% shrinkage. The sintered pebbles revealed a porous microstructure with a uniform pore distribution and the sintered pebbles were crushed under an average load of 50 N in a compressive strength test. In the present study, a freeze drying process for fabrication of spherical Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles is introduced. The processing parameters, such as solid content in the slurry and the conditions of freeze drying and sintering, are also examined.

Highlights: • Particle deposition in a pebble bed was recorded by positron emission tomography. • The particles were radioactively labelled and their spatial distribution was recorded. • Particle deposition was mainly driven by particle inertia and turbulent dispersion. • Particle deposits form hot spots on the upstream face of the single pebbles. - Abstract: Accidental scenarios such as the depressurisation of the primary circuit of high temperature gas cooled pebble bed reactors may lead to the release of fission products via the discharge of radioactive graphite dust. For a detailed source term assessment in such accident scenarios knowledge of the flow mechanics of dust transport in complex coolant circuit components, like pebble beds, recuperator structures and pipe systems is necessary. In this article an experimental study of aerosol deposition in a pebble bed is described. We investigated the deposition of radiolabelled liquid aerosol particles in a scaled pebble bed in an air-driven small-scale aerosol flow test facility under isothermal ambient conditions. The aerosol particles were generated by means of a condensational aerosol generator with potassium-fluoride (KF) condensation nuclei. Particle concentration measurements upstream and downstream of the pebble bed were performed by isokinetic sampling and particle counting. The results agree with typical deposition curves for turbulent and inertia driven particle deposition. Furthermore, positron emission tomography (PET) was performed to visualize and measure particle deposition distributions in the pebble bed. Results of a selected deposition experiment with moderately large particles (d{sub aero} = 3.5 μm, Re{sup ′}{sub pb}=2200) show that the deposited particles are located in the vicinity of the upstream stagnation points of the pebbles. These findings support the thesis that inertia driven particle deposition is predominating.

Full Text Available The pebblebed-type high temperature gas-cooled reactor is considered to be one of the promising solutions for generation IV advanced reactors, and the two-region arranged reactor core can enhance its advantages by flattening neutron flux. However, this application is held back by the existence of mixing zone between central and peripheral regions, which results from pebbles’ dispersion motions. In this study, experiments have been carried out to study the dispersion phenomenon, and the variation of dispersion region and radial distribution of pebbles in the specifically shaped flow field are shown. Most importantly, the standard deviation of pebbles’ radial positions in dispersion region, as a quantitative index to describe the size of dispersion region, is gotten through statistical analysis. Besides, discrete element method has been utilized to analyze the parameter influence on dispersion region, and this practice offers some strategies to eliminate or reduce mixing zone in practical reactors.

The Advanced Reactor Concepts X-energy (ARC-Xe) Pebble Fuel Development project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has successfully completed its first year, having made excellent progress in accomplishing programmatic objectives. The primary focus of research at ORNL in support of X-energy has been the training of X-energy fuel fabrication engineers and the establishment of US pebble fuel production capabilities able to supply the Xe-100 pebble-bed reactor. These efforts have been strongly supported by particle fuel fabrication and characterization expertise present at ORNL from the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program.

In its deployment as a pebble bed reactor (PBR) critical facility from 1992 to 1996, the PROTEUS facility was designated as HTR-PROTEUS. This experimental program was performed as part of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the Validation of Safety Related Physics Calculations for Low Enriched HTGRs. Within this project, critical experiments were conducted for graphite moderated LEU systems to determine core reactivity, flux and power profiles, reaction-rate ratios, the worth of control rods, both in-core and reflector based, the worth of burnable poisons, kinetic parameters, and the effects of moisture ingress on these parameters. One benchmark experiment was evaluated in this report: Core 4. Core 4 represents the only configuration with random pebble packing in the HTR-PROTEUS series of experiments, and has a moderator-to-fuel pebble ratio of 1:1. Three random configurations were performed. The initial configuration, Core 4.1, was rejected because the method for pebble loading, separate delivery tubes for the moderator and fuel pebbles, may not have been completely random; this core loading was rejected by the experimenters. Cores 4.2 and 4.3 were loaded using a single delivery tube, eliminating the possibility for systematic ordering effects. The second and third cores differed slightly in the quantity of pebbles loaded (40 each of moderator and fuel pebbles), stacked height of the pebbles in the core cavity (0.02 m), withdrawn distance of the stainless steel control rods (20 mm), and withdrawn distance of the autorod (30 mm). The 34 coolant channels in the upper axial reflector and the 33 coolant channels in the lower axial reflector were open. Additionally, the axial graphite fillers used in all other HTR-PROTEUS configurations to create a 12-sided core cavity were not used in the randomly packed cores. Instead, graphite fillers were placed on the cavity floor, creating a funnel-like base, to discourage ordering

In its deployment as a pebble bed reactor (PBR) critical facility from 1992 to 1996, the PROTEUS facility was designated as HTR-PROTEUS. This experimental program was performed as part of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the Validation of Safety Related Physics Calculations for Low Enriched HTGRs. Within this project, critical experiments were conducted for graphite moderated LEU systems to determine core reactivity, flux and power profiles, reaction-rate ratios, the worth of control rods, both in-core and reflector based, the worth of burnable poisons, kinetic parameters, and the effects of moisture ingress on these parameters. One benchmark experiment was evaluated in this report: Core 4. Core 4 represents the only configuration with random pebble packing in the HTR-PROTEUS series of experiments, and has a moderator-to-fuel pebble ratio of 1:1. Three random configurations were performed. The initial configuration, Core 4.1, was rejected because the method for pebble loading, separate delivery tubes for the moderator and fuel pebbles, may not have been completely random; this core loading was rejected by the experimenters. Cores 4.2 and 4.3 were loaded using a single delivery tube, eliminating the possibility for systematic ordering effects. The second and third cores differed slightly in the quantity of pebbles loaded (40 each of moderator and fuel pebbles), stacked height of the pebbles in the core cavity (0.02 m), withdrawn distance of the stainless steel control rods (20 mm), and withdrawn distance of the autorod (30 mm). The 34 coolant channels in the upper axial reflector and the 33 coolant channels in the lower axial reflector were open. Additionally, the axial graphite fillers used in all other HTR-PROTEUS configurations to create a 12-sided core cavity were not used in the randomly packed cores. Instead, graphite fillers were placed on the cavity floor, creating a funnel-like base, to discourage ordering

This report documents the work completed on the X-PREX facility under NEUP Project 11- 3172. This project seeks to demonstrate the viability of pebble fuel handling and reactivity control for fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (FHRs). The research results also improve the understanding of pebble motion in helium-cooled reactors, as well as the general, fundamental understanding of low-velocity granular flows. Successful use of pebble fuels in with salt coolants would bring major benefits for high-temperature reactor technology. Pebble fuels enable on-line refueling and operation with low excess reactivity, and thus simpler reactivity control and improved fuel utilization. If fixed fuel designs are used, the power density of salt- cooled reactors is limited to 10 MW/m3 to obtain adequate duration between refueling, but pebble fuels allow power densities in the range of 20 to 30 MW/m3. This can be compared to the typical modular helium reactor power density of 5 MW/m3. Pebble fuels also permit radial zoning in annular cores and use of thorium or graphite pebble blankets to reduce neutron fluences to outer radial reflectors and increase total power production. Combined with high power conversion efficiency, compact low-pressure primary and containment systems, and unique safety characteristics including very large thermal margins (>500°C) to fuel damage during transients and accidents, salt-cooled pebble fuel cores offer the potential to meet the major goals of the Advanced Reactor Concepts Development program to provide electricity at lower cost than light water reactors with improved safety and system performance.This report presents the facility description, experimental results, and supporting simulation methods of the new X-Ray Pebble Recirculation Experiment (X-PREX), which is now operational and being used to collect data on the behavior of slow dense granular flows relevant to pebble bed reactor core designs. The X

Full Text Available Abstract Background Usually, colonoscopy insertion is performed by the colonoscopist (one-person technique. Quite common in the early days of endoscopy, the assisting nurse is now only rarely doing the insertion (two-person technique. Using the Norwegian national endoscopy quality assurance (QA programme, Gastronet, we wanted to explore the extent of two-person technique practice and look into possible differences in performance and QA output measures. Methods 100 colonoscopists in 18 colonoscopy centres having reported their colonoscopies to Gastronet between January and December 2009 were asked if they practiced one- or two-person technique during insertion of the colonoscope. They were categorized accordingly for comparative analyses of QA indicators. Results 75 endoscopists responded to the survey (representing 9368 colonoscopies - 62 of them (83% applied one-person technique and 13 (17% two-person technique. Patients age and sex distributions and indications for colonoscopy were also similar in the two groups. Caecal intubation was 96% in the two-person group compared to 92% in the one-person group (p Conclusion Two-person technique for colonoscope insertion was practiced by a considerable minority of endoscopists (17%. QA indicators were either similar to or better than one-person technique. This suggests that there may be some beneficial elements to this technique worth exploring and try to import into the much preferred one-person insertion technique.

This report examines the history of the South African Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, a new design of nuclear power plant. It illustrates the serious delays in developing the design and the huge increases in cost of the technology.

Some scenarios for planetesimal formation go through a phase of collapse of gravitationally bound clouds of mm-cm-sized pebbles. Such clouds can form for example through the streaming instability in protoplanetary disks. We model the collapse process with a statistical model to obtain the internal structure of planetesimals with solid radii between 10 and 1,000 km. In the collapse, pebbles collide and, depending on relative speed, collisions have different outcomes. A mixture of particle sizes inside a planetesimal leads to better packing capabilities and higher densities. In this paper we apply results from new laboratory experiments of dust aggregate collisions (presented in a companion paper) to model collision outcomes. We find that the internal structure of a planetesimal is strongly dependent on both its mass and the applied fragmentation model. Low-mass planetesimals have no/few fragmenting pebble collisions in the collapse phase and end up as porous pebble-piles. The amount of fragmenting collisions i...

This article focuses on personalised games, which we define as games that utilise player models for the purpose of tailoring the game experience to the individual player. The main contribution of the article is a motivation for personalised gaming, supported by an extensive overview of scientific li

Game Theory is a collection of short interviews based on 5 questions presented to some of the most influential and prominent scholars in game theory. We hear their views on game theory, its aim, scope, use, the future direction of game theory and how their work fits in these respects....

Game Analytics has gained a tremendous amount of attention in game development and game research in recent years. The widespread adoption of data-driven business intelligence practices at operational, tactical and strategic levels in the game industry, combined with the integration of quantitative...

Highlights: • Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} with excess Li (Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y}) pebble as an advanced tritium breeders was fabricated using emulsion method. • Grain size of Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles was controlled to be less than 5 μm. • Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles exhibited good tritium release properties similar to that of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles. - Abstract: Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} with excess Li (Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y}) has been developed as an advanced tritium breeder. With respect to the tritium release characteristics of the blanket, the optimum grain size after sintering was less than 5 μm. Therefore, an emulsion method was developed to fabricate pebbles with this target grain size. The predominant factor affecting grain growth was assumed to be the presence of binder in the gel particles; this remaining binder was hypothesized to react with the excess Li, thereby generating Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3}, which promotes grain growth. To inhibit the generation of Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3}, calcined Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles were sintered under vacuum and subsequently under a 1% H{sub 2}–He atmosphere. The average grain size of the sintered Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles was less than 5 μm. Furthermore, the tritium release properties of Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles were evaluated, and deuterium–tritium (DT) neutron irradiation experiments were performed at the Fusion Neutronics Source facility in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. To remove the tritium produced by neutron irradiation, 1% H{sub 2}–He purge gas was passed through the Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles. The Li{sub 2+x}TiO{sub 3+y} pebbles exhibited good tritium release properties, similar to those of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles. In particular, the released amount of tritiated hydrogen gas for easier tritium handling was greater than the released amount of tritiated water.

Full Text Available Modular pebble-bed nuclear reactor (MPBNR technology is promising due to its attractive features such as high fuel performance and inherent safety. Particle motion of fuel and graphite pebbles is highly associated with the performance of pebbled-bed modular nuclear reactor. To understand the mechanism of pebble’s motion in the reactor, we numerically studied the influence of number ratio of fuel and graphite pebbles, funnel angle of the reactor, height of guide ring on the distribution of pebble position, and velocity by means of discrete element method (DEM in a two-dimensional MPBNR. Velocity distributions at different areas of the reactor as well as mixing characteristics of fuel and graphite pebbles were investigated. Both fuel and graphite pebbles moved downward, and a uniform motion was formed in the column zone, while pebbles motion in the cone zone was accelerated due to the decrease of the cross sectional flow area. The number ratio of fuel and graphite pebbles and the height of guide ring had a minor influence on the velocity distribution of pebbles, while the variation of funnel angle had an obvious impact on the velocity distribution. Simulated results agreed well with the work in the literature.

Full Text Available Computer gaming is a medium by which we can entertain ourselves, a medium that has
expanded to the online worldwide market as part as globalization. The growth of online gaming has
close ties with the use of broadband, as a good online gaming experience requires a broadband
connection. Through online gaming, people can play and communicate with each other freely in
almost any country, at any given time. This paper examines the phenomenon of online gaming.

In the solar system giant planets come in two flavours: gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) with massive gas envelopes, and ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) with much thinner envelopes around their cores. It is poorly understood how these two classes of planets formed. High solid accretion rates, necessary to form the cores of giant planets within the life-time of protoplanetary discs, heat the envelope and prevent rapid gas contraction onto the core, unless accretion is halted. We find that, in fact, accretion of pebbles (~cm sized particles) is self-limiting: when a core becomes massive enough it carves a gap in the pebble disc. This halt in pebble accretion subsequently triggers the rapid collapse of the super-critical gas envelope. Unlike gas giants, ice giants do not reach this threshold mass and can only bind low-mass envelopes that are highly enriched by water vapour from sublimated icy pebbles. This offers an explanation for the compositional difference between gas giants and ice giants in the solar system. Furthermore, unlike planetesimal-driven accretion scenarios, our model allows core formation and envelope attraction within disc life-times, provided that solids in protoplanetary discs are predominantly made up of pebbles. Our results imply that the outer regions of planetary systems, where the mass required to halt pebble accretion is large, are dominated by ice giants and that gas-giant exoplanets in wide orbits are enriched by more than 50 Earth masses of solids.

Highlights: • Detailed tomography experiments were performed to study the packing structure close to concave and convex walls. • A model for arbitrary container geometries is proposed to predict the inner packing factor based on the known total packing factor. • The results are important for the design of ceramic breeder blankets. • The results are relevant for models describing the thermo-mechanical interaction of pebble beds with the blanket structure. - Abstract: Computed tomography experiments were performed with mostly spherical particles in containers with concave, plane and convex walls. Regular pebble packings exist also close to convex cylindrical walls even if the cylinder-to-pebble diameter ratio is about 1, characteristic of thermocouples within the pebble bed. A model for arbitrary container shapes is proposed which predicts the inner packing factor based on the known total packing factor. With increasing vibration efficiency the total packing factor rises because the zones with structured packing increase. Depending on container dimensions, a structured packing can occur in the total pebble bed. Large packing factors are desirable, however, these pebble beds can probably no longer be considered as isotropic with respect to thermo-mechanic properties.

Pebble Bed Reactors offer a future for new nuclear energy plants. They are small, inherently safe, and can be competitive with fossil fuels. The fuel forms a randomly stacked pebble with non-uniform fuel densities. The thermal-mechanical behavior of pebble bed reactor core is depends strongly on the spatial variation of packing fraction in the bed and in particular on the number of contacts between pebbles, and between the pebbles and the blanket walls. To investigate these effects, experimental data to characterize bed structure are needed along with other numerical simulation and computational tools for validation. In this study, a powerful technique of high-energy gamma-ray computed tomography (CT scanner system) is employed for the first time for the quantification of the structure of pebble bed in term of the cross-sectional time-averaged void and distributions, it radial profiles and the statistical analysis. The alternative minimization (AM) iteration algorithm is used for image reconstruction. The spatial resolution of the CT scan is about 2 mm with 100 x 100 pixel used to reconstruct the cross-sectional image. Results of tomography with this advanced technique on three different pebble sizes at different axial levels are presented. The bed consisted of a glass spheres (Marbles) with a diameter d1= 1.27 cm, d2= 2.54 cm and d3= 5 cm in a Plexiglas cylinder with diameter D = 30.48 cm (D/d1 = 24, D/d2 = 12 and D/d3 = 6), and had an average void fraction epsilon1= 0.389, epsilon2 = 0.40 and epsilon 3 =0.43, respectively. The radial void fraction profile showed large oscillations with the bigger pebble diameters and the void fraction is higher on the wall with a minimum void fraction of 0.33 at 0.68 pebble diameter away from the wall. It was found that the void distribution in random packed bed depends strongly on the pebble diameter with respect to the bed diameter (D/d p) and the packing mode. The oscillation is quiet large with the smaller aspect ratio (D

Physical asset protection is the principal objective of many security and safeguard measures. One well-known means of asset protection is two-person control. This paper reviews literature regarding two-person control to gain insight into its origin, first demonstrated uses, and its presence in several modern industries. This literature review of two-person control is intended to benefit people and organizations with a desire to understand its origins and how the practice has evolved over time, as well as give some insight into the flexibility of this safeguarding technique. The literature review is focused in four main sections: (1) defining two-person control, (2) early history, (3) two-person control in modern industry, and (4) a theory on how two- person control entered modern industry. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Jarret Lafleur and Scott Paap of Sandia National Laboratories, California's Systems Analysis & Engineering organization for the opportunity to work on this project. Jarret Lafleur provided very constructive and helpful feedback through all stages of the work. Amanda Thompson of the Sandia California Technical Library maintained a great spirit and always had a quick document turnaround that very much helped out this project's completion. Additionally, yet perhaps most importantly, the author would like to thank his wife and daughter, along with the rest of his family, for continued support over the years. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

software for private entertainment (looking/feeling real) or they can be pragmatic software used for training of professionals (affecting soldiers’, pilots’, etc. perception of the real). A third, and less debated game-reality relationship, based on public awareness and typically a socio-political agenda...

The Fluoride salt cooled High temperature Reactor (FHR) is a class of advanced nuclear reactors that combine the robust coated particle fuel form from high temperature gas cooled reactors, direct reactor auxillary cooling system (DRACS) passive decay removal of liquid metal fast reactors, and the transparent, high volumetric heat capacitance liquid fluoride salt working fluids---flibe (33%7Li2F-67%BeF)---from molten salt reactors. This combination of fuel and coolant enables FHRs to operate in a high-temperature low-pressure design space that has beneficial safety and economic implications. In 2012, UC Berkeley was charged with developing a pre-conceptual design of a commercial prototype FHR---the Pebble Bed- Fluoride Salt Cooled High Temperature Reactor (PB-FHR)---as part of the Nuclear Energy University Programs' (NEUP) integrated research project. The Mark 1 design of the PB-FHR (Mk1 PB-FHR) is 236 MWt flibe cooled pebble bed nuclear heat source that drives an open-air Brayton combine-cycle power conversion system. The PB-FHR's pebble bed consists of a 19.8% enriched uranium fuel core surrounded by an inert graphite pebble reflector that shields the outer solid graphite reflector, core barrel and reactor vessel. The fuel reaches an average burnup of 178000 MWt-d/MT. The Mk1 PB-FHR exhibits strong negative temperature reactivity feedback from the fuel, graphite moderator and the flibe coolant but a small positive temperature reactivity feedback of the inner reflector and from the outer graphite pebble reflector. A novel neutronics and depletion methodology---the multiple burnup state methodology was developed for an accurate and efficient search for the equilibrium composition of an arbitrary continuously refueled pebble bed reactor core. The Burnup Equilibrium Analysis Utility (BEAU) computer program was developed to implement this methodology. BEAU was successfully benchmarked against published results generated with existing equilibrium depletion codes VSOP

Pebble rounding caused by attrition is, beside chemical dissolution, breakage, and grain size segregation, one of the key processes controlling bedload downstream fining in rivers. Downstream changes in pebble geometry is subject of consideration since Aristotle (Krynine, 1960) and its measurement represent a challenge since the end of 19th century, leading to a long standing debate (Blott and Pye, 2008). A toolbox developed by Roussillon et al. (2009) operate on automatic computation of several shape and roundness indexes from images of 2D projection plan of pebbles disposed on a one meter square red board. In order to promote the tool for future applications, we tested the effects of pebble position on board, of picture resolution and treatment on three shape and roundness indexes. We also compared the downstream patterns of these indexes on two pebble samples of the same lithology collected on the Progo River (Indonesia) based on field observations (i) and experimentation (ii). Shape and roundness were measured on (i) 8 sites distributed over a distance of 36 km along the river, and (ii) ten times on a set of particules collected on the Progo spring and transported in an annular flume over the same distance. This travel distance was monitored using passive low frequency RFID system. Results show that pebble position does not have a significant effect on shape and roundness indexes but these indexes are sensible to picture resolutions and treatments so that a clear protocol must be considered for avoiding any observer bias. Downstream changes in roundness indexes are very similar in field and experimental conditions, while abrasion environments are distinct. Discontinuities observed in downstream river pattern but not in experimental one underlined changes in Progo River pebble roundness are probably caused by sediment supplied from tributaries or bank erosion. These results highlight the toolbox potential for diagnosing river systems function.

Full Text Available The pebble bed type High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR is among the interesting nuclear reactor designs in terms of safety and flexibility for co-generation applications. In addition, the strong inherent safety characteristics of the pebble bed reactor (PBR which is based on natural mechanisms improve the simplicity of the PBR design, in particular for the Once-Through-Then-Out (OTTO cycle PBR design. One of the important challenges of the OTTO cycle PBR design, and nuclear reactor design in general, is improving the nuclear fuel utilization which is shown by attaining a higher burnup value. This study performed a preliminary neutronic design study of a 200 MWt OTTO cycle PBR with high burnup while fulfilling the safety criteria of the PBR design.The safety criteria of the design was represented by the per-fuel-pebble maximum power generation of 4.5 kW/pebble. The maximum burnup value was also limited by the tested maximum burnup value which maintained the integrity of the pebble fuel. Parametric surveys were performed to obtain the optimized parameters used in this study, which are the fuel enrichment, per-pebble heavy metal (HM loading, and the average axial speed of the fuel. An optimum design with burnup value of 131.1 MWd/Kg-HM was achieved in this study which is much higher compare to the burnup of the reference design HTR-MODUL and a previously proposed OTTO-cycle PBR design. This optimum design uses 17% U-235 enrichment with 4 g HM-loading per fuel pebble

The purpose of this article is to analyze the South Korea and China of computer game research, and the current state of research in Japan. Excessive game actions were analyzed by PET-MRI, MRI, fMRI, NIRS, EEG. These results showed that the prefrontal cortical activity decreased during game play. Also, game addiction causes damage to the prefrontal cortex. The NIRS-EEG and simultaneous recording, during game play correspond well with the decrease of β band and oxygen-hemoglobin. The α band did not change with game play. However, oxygen-hemoglobin decreased during game play. South Korea, game addiction measures have been analyzed since 2002, but in Japan the research is recent.

game. This development is analogous to that of games of strategy, in which each player is assigned a set of possible ... based system, communication protocols, performance ..... driven and a shorter coding-debugging life cycle. The methods ...

This study used a psychophysical approach to examine the effects of carrying methods and the presence or absence of box handles on the maximum acceptable weight carried and resulting responses (heart rate and rating of perceived exertion) in a two-person carrying task. After training, 16 female subjects performed a two-person carrying task at knuckle height for an 8-h work period. Each subject performed 4 different carrying combinations two times. The independent variables were carrying methods (parallel and tandem walking) and box handles (with and without handles). For comparison with two-person carrying, the subjects also performed one-person carrying. The results showed that the maximum acceptable weight carried (MAWC), heart rate (HR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were significantly affected by the presence of box handles. However, the subjects' MAWC, HR, and RPE values were not significantly influenced by the carrying methods. The test-retest reliability of the psychophysical approach was 0.945. The carrying efficiency of two-person carrying was 96.2% of the one-person carrying method. In general, the use of box with handles allows the subjects to carry a higher MAWC (with lower HR and RPE) compared to carrying boxes without handles.

Compared the fit of several Item Response Theory (IRT) models to twopersonality assessment instruments using data from 13,059 individuals responding to one instrument and 1,770 individuals responding to the other. Two- and three-parameter logistic models fit some scales reasonably well, but not others, and the graded response model generally did…

Casual games have become a widespread activity that fills our leisure time. This article introduces to the phenomenon casual games – their definition and the history. Furthermore the article presents and discusses the experience of and engagement or immersion in playing these games as it is put...... forward by recent research. The theoretical approach is based on media psychology, phenomenology and reversal theory. Finally it is argued that playing casual games is fundamental pleasurable to both paratelic as well as telic metamotivational states....

Casual games have become a widespread activity that fills our leisure time. This article introduces to the phenomenon casual games – their definition and the history. Furthermore the article presents and discusses the experience of and engagement or immersion in playing these games as it is put...... forward by recent research. The theoretical approach is based on media psychology, phenomenology and reversal theory. Finally it is argued that playing casual games is fundamental pleasurable to both paratelic as well as telic metamotivational states....

The Penn State geoPebble system is a new network of wirelessly interconnected seismic and GPS sensor nodes with flexible architecture. This network will be used for studies of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, as well as to investigate mountain glaciers. The network will consist of ˜150 geoPebbles that can be deployed in a user-defined spatial geometry. We present our design methodology, which has enabled us to develop these state-of- the art sensors using commercial-off-the-shelf hardware combined with custom-designed hardware and software. Each geoPebble is a self- contained, wirelessly connected sensor for collecting seismic measurements and position information. Key elements of each node encompasses a three-component seismic recorder, which includes an amplifier, filter, and 24- bit analog-to-digital converter that can sample up to 10 kHz. Each unit also includes a microphone channel to record the ground-coupled airwave. The timing for each node is available from GPS measurements and a local precision oscillator that is conditioned by the GPS timing pulses. In addition, we record the carrier-phase measurement of the L1 GPS signal in order to determine location at sub-decimeter accuracy (relative to other geoPebbles within a few kilometers radius). Each geoPebble includes 16 GB of solid-state storage, wireless communications capability to a central supervisory unit, and auxiliary measurements capability (including tilt from accelerometers, absolute orientation from magnetometers and temperature). A novel aspect of the geoPebble is a wireless charging system for the internal battery (using inductive coupling techniques). The geoPebbles include all the sensors (geophones, GPS, microphone), communications (WiFi), and power (battery and charging) internally, so the geoPebble system can operate without any cabling connections (though we do provide an external connector so that different geophones can be used). We report initial field-deployment results and

High fuel temperatures and resulting fuel particle coating stresses can be expected in a Pu and minor actinide fueled Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (400 MWth) design as compared to the ’standard’ UO2 fueled core. The high discharge burnup aimed for in this Deep-Burn design results in increased power and temperature peaking in the pebble bed near the inner and outer reflector. Furthermore, the pebble power in a multi-pass in-core pebble recycling scheme is relatively high for pebbles that make their first core pass. This might result in an increase of the mechanical failure of the coatings, which serve as the containment of radioactive fission products in the PBMR design. To investigate the integrity of the particle fuel coatings as a function of the irradiation time (i.e. burnup), core position and during a Loss Of Forced Cooling (LOFC) incident the PArticle STress Analysis code (PASTA) has been coupled to the PEBBED code for neutronics, thermal-hydraulics and depletion analysis of the core. Two deep burn fuel types (Pu with or without initial MA fuel content) have been investigated with the new code system for normal and transient conditions including the effect of the statistical variation of thickness of the coating layers.

Solar System formation models predict that the building-blocks of planetesimals were mm- to cm-sized pebbles, aggregates of ices and non-volatile materials, consistent with the compact particles ejected by comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P hereafter) and detected by GIADA (Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator) on-board the Rosetta spacecraft. Planetesimals were formed by the gentle gravitational accretion of pebbles, so that they have an internal macroporosity of 40%. We measure the average dust bulk density ρ _D = 795_{-65}^{+840} kg m-3 that, coupled to the 67P nucleus bulk density, provides the average dust-to-ices mass ratio δ = 8.5. We find that the measured densities of the 67P pebbles are consistent with a mixture of (15 ± 6)% of ices, (5 ± 2)% of Fe-sulfides, (28 ± 5)% of silicates, and (52 ± 12)% of hydrocarbons, in average volume abundances. This composition matches both the solar and CI-chondritic chemical abundances, thus showing that GIADA has sampled the typical non-volatile composition of the pebbles that formed all planetesimals. The GIADA data do not constrain the abundance of amorphous silicates vs. crystalline Mg,Fe-olivines and pyroxenes. We find that the pebbles have a microporosity of (52 ± 8)% (internal volume filling factor φP = 0.48 ± 0.08), implying an average porosity for the 67P nucleus of (71 ± 8)%, lower than previously estimated.

Some scenarios for planetesimal formation go through a phase of collapse of gravitationally bound clouds of millimeter- to centimeter-size pebbles. Such clouds can form, for example, through the streaming instability in protoplanetary disks. We model the collapse process with a statistical model to obtain the internal structure of planetesimals with solid radii between 10 and 1000 km. During the collapse, pebbles collide, and depending on their relative speeds, collisions have different outcomes. A mixture of particle sizes inside a planetesimal leads to better packing capabilities and higher densities. In this paper we apply results from new laboratory experiments of dust aggregate collisions (presented in a companion paper) to model collision outcomes. We find that the internal structure of a planetesimal is strongly dependent on both its mass and the applied fragmentation model. Low-mass planetesimals have no/few fragmenting pebble collisions in the collapse phase and end up as porous pebble piles. The number of fragmenting collisions increases with increasing cloud mass, resulting in wider particle size distributions and higher density. The collapse is nevertheless “cold” in the sense that collision speeds are damped by the high collision frequency. This ensures that a significant fraction of large pebbles survive the collapse in all but the most massive clouds. Our results are in broad agreement with the observed increase in density of Kuiper Belt objects with increasing size, as exemplified by the recent characterization of the highly porous comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Content: For up to a few millions of years, pebbles must provide a quasi-steady inflow of solids from the outer parts of protoplanetary disks to their inner regions. Aims: We want to understand how a significant fraction of the pebbles grow into planetesimals rather than being lost to the host star. Methods: We examine analytically how the inward flow of pebbles is affected by the presence of a snow line and under which conditions dust-rich (rocky) planetesimals form. When calculating the inward drift of solids due to gas drag, we include the back-reaction of the gas to the motion of the solids. Results: We show that in low-viscosity protoplanetary disks (with a monotonous surface density similar to that of the minimum-mass solar nebula), the flow of pebbles does not usually reach the required surface density to form planetesimals by streaming instability. We show however that if the pebble-to-gas mass flux exceeds a critical value, no steady solution can be found for the solid-to-gas ratio. Conclusions: This...

Highlights: • Effect of an insert on improving flow uniformity and eliminating stagnant zone is studied. • Three values concerned with the stagnant zone, radial uniformity and flow sequence are used. • Outlet diameter is a critical parameter that determines balancing mechanism of the insert. • Height/location is varied to let the insert work in unbalanced region and avoid adverse effect. - Abstract: A flow-corrective insert is adopted in the pebble-bed high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) to improve flow performance of the pebble flow for the first time. 3D discrete element method (DEM) modeling is employed to study this slow and dense granular flow. It is verified that locating a properly designed insert in the bed can help transform unsatisfactory flow field to the preferred flow pattern for pebble bed reactors. Three characteristic values on the stagnant zone, radial uniformity and flow sequence of pebble flow are defined to evaluate uniformity of the overall flow field quantitatively. The results demonstrate that the pebble bed equipped with an insert performs better than normal beds from all these three aspects. Moreover, based on numerical experiments, several universal tips for insert design on height, location and outlet diameter are suggested.

Highlights: • Thermal conductivity values of bed as function of a material of known conductivity. • Minimizing the error caused by radial heat transfer. • Experimental evaluation of thermal conductivity of alumina pebble at different temperatures. • Experimental test with/without compression load. - Abstract: The experimental determination of mechanical and thermal properties of ceramic pebble beds, such as the lithium orthosilicate or lithium metatitanate, is a key issue in the framework of fusion power technology, for the reason that they are possible candidates in the design of breeder blankets. The paper deals with an experimental method for the evaluation of the thermal conductivity of ceramic pebble beds versus the temperature and compressive strain, based on a steady state heat flux through a material (alumina) of known conductivity. The alumina thermal conductivity is determined by means of the hot wire method. To assess the experimental method, a thermo-mechanical characterization of alumina pebble beds (a material largely available), having different diameters, considering a wide range of temperatures and compression forces has been carried out. Moreover preliminary tests have been performed on lithium orthosilicate and lithium metatitanate pebble beds.

Lithium hydride (LiH) ceramic pebbles, a new potential tritium breeding material in fusion–fission or fusion reactor blanket, were prepared by wet process for the first time. XRD results showed that LiOH, LiOH·H{sub 2}O, Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3} and Li{sub 2}O were found in the surface of LiH pebbles. However, the pure phase of LiH pebbles without cracks could be obtained by paraffin wax coating technique. The average value (a.v.) of the sphericity and the diameter were 1.01 and 0.98 mm, respectively. The LiH pebbles sintered at 450 °C for 3 h under 80 ml/min flowing argon, reached ∼92.3% of the theoretical density, with the grain size of 5.59 μm (a.v.). And the crush load was measured to be 15 N on average. The described wet process exhibited multiple advantages for fabricating LiH pebbles.

Standard accretion disk models suggest that the snow line in the solar nebula migrated interior to the Earth's orbit in a late stage of nebula evolution. In this late stage, a significant amount of ice could have been delivered to 1 AU from outer regions in the form of mm to dm-sized "pebbles." This raises the question why the present Earth is so depleted of water (with the ocean mass being as small as 0.023% of the Earth mass). Here we quantify the amount of icy pebbles accreted by terrestrial embryos after the migration of the snow line assuming that no mechanism halts the pebble flow in outer disk regions. We use a simplified version of the coagulation equation to calculate the formation and radial inward drift of icy pebbles in a protoplanetary disk. The pebble accretion cross section of an embryo is calculated using analytic expressions presented by recent studies. We find that the final mass and water content of terrestrial embryos strongly depends on the radial extent of the gas disk, the strength of d...

High temperature reactors (HTRs) have been considered since the 1940s, and have been constructed and demonstrated in the United Kingdom (Dragon), United States (Peach Bottom and Fort Saint Vrain), Japan (HTTR), Germany (AVR and THTR-300), and have been the subject of conceptual studies in Russia (VGM). The attraction to these reactors is that they can use a variety of reactor fuels, including abundant thorium, which upon reprocessing of the spent fuel can produce fissile U-233. Hence, they could extend the stocks of available uranium, provided the fuel is reprocessed. Another attractive attribute is that HTRs typically operate at a much higher temperature than conventional light water reactors (LWRs), because of the use of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide coated (TRISO) fuel particles embedded in ceramic graphite. Rather than simply discharge most of the unused heat from the working fluid in the power plant to the environment, engineers have been designing reactors for 40 years to recover this heat and make it available for district heating or chemical conversion plants. Demonstrating high-temperature nuclear energy conversion was the purpose behind Fort Saint Vrain in the United States, THTR-300 in Germany, HTTR in Japan, and HTR-10 and HTR-PM, being built in China. This resulted in nuclear reactors at least 30% or more thermodynamically efficient than conventional LWRs, especially if the waste heat can be effectively utilized in chemical processing plants. A modern variant of high temperature reactors is the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). Originally developed in the United States and Germany, it is now being redesigned and marketed by the Republic of South Africa and China. The team examined historical high temperature and high temperature gas reactors (HTR and HTGR) and reviewed safeguards considerations for this reactor. The following is a preliminary report on this topic prepared under the ASA-100 Advanced Safeguards Project in support of the NNSA Next

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging provides excellent optical contrast with decent penetration and high spatial resolution, making it attractive for a variety of neural applications. We evaluated optical contrast agents with high absorption in the near infrared (NIR) as potential enhancers for PA neuroimaging: optical dyes, gold nanorods (GNRs) and PEBBLEs loaded with indocyanine green. Two PA systems were developed to test these agents in excised neural tissue and in vivo mouse brain. Lobster nerves were stained with the agents for 30 minutes and placed in a hybrid nerve chamber capable of electrical stimulation and recording, optical spectroscopy and PA imaging. Contrast agents boosted the PA signal by at least 30 dB using NIR illumination from a tunable pulsed laser. Photobleaching may be a limiting factor for optical dyes-the PA signal decreased steadily with laser illumination. The second setup enabled in vivo transcranial imaging of the mouse brain. A custom clinical ultrasound scanner and a 10-MHz linear array provided near real-time images during and after an injection of 2 nM gold nanorods into the tail vein. The peak PA signal from the brain vasculature was enhanced by up to 2 dB at 710 nm. Temporal dynamics of the PA signal were also consistent with mixing of the GNRs in the blood. These studies provide a baseline for enhanced PA imaging in neural tissue. The smart contrast agents employed in this study can be further engineered for molecular targeting and controlled drug delivery with potential treatment for a myriad of neural disorders.

Highlights: • Selective laser sintering (SLS) is employed to fabricate ceramic pebbles. • Quantities and diameter of the pebbles could be easily controlled by adjusting the model of pebbles. • All the pebbles could be prepared at a time within several minutes. • The Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles sintered at 1100 °C show a notable crush load of 43 N. - Abstract: Lithium titanate, Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}, is an important tritium breeding material for deuterium (D)–tritium (T) fusion reactor. In test blanket module (TBM) design of China, Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} is considered as one candidate material of tritium breeders. In this study, selective laser sintering (SLS) technology was introduced to fabricate Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} ceramic pebbles. This fabrication process is computer assisted and has a high level of flexibility. Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} powder with a particle size of 1–3 μm was used as the raw material, whilst epoxy resin E06 was adopted as a binder. Green Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles with certain strengths were successfully prepared via SLS. Density of the green pebbles was subsequently increased by cold isostatic pressing (CIP) process. Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles with a diameter of about 2 mm were obtained after high temperature sintering. Density of the pebbles reaches 80% of theoretical density (TD) with a comparable crush load of 43 N. This computer assisted approach provides a new efficient route for the production of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} ceramic pebbles.

Game theory is a toolkit for examining situations where decision makers influence each other. I discuss the nature of game-theoretic analysis, the history of game theory, why game theory is useful for understanding human psychology, and why game theory has played a key role in the recent explosion of interest in the field of behavioral economics. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 167-173 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.119 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Casual games have become a widespread activity that fills our leisure time. This article introduces to the phenomenon casual games – their definition and the history. Furthermore the article presents and discusses the experience of and engagement or immersion in playing these games as it is put f...... forward by recent research. The theoretical approach is based on media psychology, phenomenology and reversal theory. Finally it is argued that playing casual games is fundamental pleasurable to both paratelic as well as telic metamotivational states.......Casual games have become a widespread activity that fills our leisure time. This article introduces to the phenomenon casual games – their definition and the history. Furthermore the article presents and discusses the experience of and engagement or immersion in playing these games as it is put...

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to compare the fracture energy of mortar and concretes produced with crushed rock and pebble aggregates using zero, 10, 20, 30 and 40% of aggregates mixed with standard mortar and applying the wedge splitting method to achieve stable crack propagation. The samples were cast in a special mold and cured for 28 days, after which they were subjected to crack propagation tests by the wedge splitting method to determine the fracture energies of the mortar and concrete. The concretes showed higher fracture energy than the mortar, and the concretes containing crushed rock showed higher resistance to crack propagation than all the compositions containing pebbles. The fracture energy varied from 38 to 55 J.m-2. A comparison of the number of aggregates that separated from the two concrete matrices with the highest fracture energies indicated that the concrete containing pebbles crumbled more easily and was therefore less resistant to crack propagation.

Full Text Available Lithium orthosilicate (Li4SiO4 ceramics in from of pebble bed is the European candidate for ITER testing HCPB (Helium Cooled Pebble Bed breeding modules. The breeder function and the shielding role of this material, represent the areas upon which attention is focused. Electrical measurements are proposed for monitoring the modification created by ionizing radiation and at the same time provide information on lithium movement in this ceramic structure. The electrical tests are performed on pebbles fabricated by Spray-dryer method before and after gamma-irradiation through a 60Co source to a fluence of 4.8 Gy/s till a total dose of 5 ∗ 105 Gy. The introduction of thermal annealing treatments during the electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS measurements points out the recombination effect of the temperature on the γ-induced defects.

SRI International is developing a wireless sensor for monitoring the level of chloride ingress into concrete bridge decks. We call this device a Smart Pebble since it has roughly the size and weight of a typical piece of the rock aggregate that is used in such structures. It is "smart" in that it contains a chloride sensor and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip that can be queried remotely both to identify it and to indicate chloride concentration levels. The Smart Pebble is also powered remotely, thus precluding the need for any lifetime-limiting batteries. It is designed to be inserted in the bridge deck either during the initial construction (or during refurbishment) or in a back-filled core hole. This paper will discuss the Smart Pebble design, operation, and status.

The formation of planets depends on the underlying protoplanetary disc structure, which influences both the accretion and migration rates of embedded planets. The disc itself evolves on time-scales of several Myr during which both temperature and density profiles change as matter accretes onto the central star. Here we use a detailed model of an evolving disc to determine the growth of planets by pebble accretion and their migration through the disc. Cores that reach their pebble isolation mass accrete gas to finally form giant planets with extensive gas envelopes, while planets that do not reach pebble isolation mass are stranded as ice giants and ice planets containing only minor amounts of gas in their envelopes. Unlike earlier population synthesis models, our model works without any artificial reductions in migration speed and for protoplanetary discs with gas and dust column densities similar to those inferred from observations. We find that in our nominal disc model the emergence of planetary embryos pr...

Highlights: • Tritium release properties and characteristics of microstructure of beryllium pebbles having different sizes of grains were studied. • Fine-grained beryllium pebbles showed the best ability to release tritium compared to pebbles from another charges. • Be pebbles with the grain sizes exceeding 100 μm contain a great number of small pores and inclusions presumably referring to the history of material fabrication. • The sizes of grains are one of a key characteristic of microstructure which influences the parameters of tritium release. - Abstract: Beryllium pebbles with diameters of 1 mm are considered to be perspective material for the use as neutron multiplier in tritium breeding modules of fusion reactors. Up to now, the design of helium-cooled breeding blanket in ITER project foresees the use of 1 mm beryllium pebbles fabricated by NGK Insulators Ltd., Japan. It is notable that beryllium pebbles from Russian Federation and USA are also available and the possibility of their large-scale fabrication is under study. Presented work is dedicated to a study of characteristics of microstructure and parameters of tritium release of beryllium pebbles produced by Bochvar Institute, Russian Federation, and Materion Corporation, USA.

Full Text Available A nonuniform distribution of tristructural isotropic (TRISO particles within a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR pebble may lead to excessive thermal gradients and nonuniform thermal expansion during operation. If the particles are closely clustered, local hotspots may form, leading to excessive stresses on particle layers and an increased probability of particle failure. Although X-ray digital radiography (DR is currently used to evaluate the TRISO distributions in pebbles, X-ray DR projection images are two-dimensional in nature, which would potentially miss some details for 3D evaluation. This paper proposes a method of 3D visualization and evaluation of the TRISO distribution in HTGR pebbles using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT: first, a pebble is scanned on our high-resolution CBCT, and 2D cross-sectional images are reconstructed; secondly, all cross-sectional images are restructured to form the 3D model of the pebble; then, volume rendering is applied to segment and display the TRISO particles in 3D for visualization and distribution evaluation. For method validation, several pebbles were scanned and the 3D distributions of the TRISO particles within the pebbles were produced. Experiment results show that the proposed method provides more 3D than DR, which will facilitate pebble fabrication research and production quality control.

We provide characterizations of convex games and total clan games by using properties of their corresponding marginal games. As it turns out, a cooperative game is convex if and only if all its marginal games are superadditive, and a monotonic game satisfying the veto player property with respect to the members of a coalition C is a total clan game (with clan C) if and only if all its C-based marginal games are subadditive.

Context. For up to a few millions of years, pebbles must provide a quasi-steady inflow of solids from the outer parts of protoplanetary disks to their inner regions. Aims: We wish to understand how a significant fraction of the pebbles grows into planetesimals instead of being lost to the host star. Methods: We examined analytically how the inward flow of pebbles is affected by the snow line and under which conditions dust-rich (rocky) planetesimals form. When calculating the inward drift of solids that is due to gas drag, we included the back-reaction of the gas to the motion of the solids. Results: We show that in low-viscosity protoplanetary disks (with a monotonous surface density similar to that of the minimum-mass solar nebula), the flow of pebbles does not usually reach the required surface density to form planetesimals by streaming instability. We show, however, that if the pebble-to-gas-mass flux exceeds a critical value, no steady solution can be found for the solid-to-gas ratio. This is particularly important for low-viscosity disks (αgrains ejected from sublimating pebbles can accumulate, eventually leading to the formation of dust-rich planetesimals directly by gravitational instability. Conclusions: This formation of dust-rich planetesimals may occur for extended periods of time, while the snow line sweeps from several au to inside of 1 au. The rock-to-ice ratio may thus be globally significantly higher in planetesimals and planets than in the central star.

Though ∼10 M {sub ⊕} mass rocky/icy cores are commonly held as a prerequisite for the formation of gas giants, theoretical models still struggle to explain how these embryos can form within the lifetimes of gaseous circumstellar disks. In recent years, aerodynamic-aided accretion of 'pebbles', objects ranging from centimeters to meters in size, has been suggested as a potential solution to this long-standing problem. While pebble accretion has been demonstrated to be extremely effective in local simulations that look at the detailed behavior of these pebbles in the vicinity of a single planetary embryo, to date there have been no global simulations demonstrating the effectiveness of pebble accretion in a more complicated, multi-planet environment. Therefore, we have incorporated the aerodynamic-aided accretion physics into LIPAD, a Lagrangian code that can follow the collisional/accretional/dynamical evolution of a protoplanetary system, to investigate how pebble accretion manifests itself in the larger planet formation picture. We find that under generic circumstances, pebble accretion naturally leads to an 'oligarchic' type of growth in which a large number of planetesimals grow to similar-sized planets. In particular, our simulations tend to form hundreds of Mars- and Earth-mass objects between 4 and 10 AU. While merging of some oligarchs may grow massive enough to form giant planet cores, leftover oligarchs lead to planetary systems that cannot be consistent with our own solar system. We investigate various ideas presented in the literature (including evaporation fronts and planet traps) and find that none easily overcome this tendency toward oligarchic growth.

This project is developing a fundamental conceptual design for a gas-cooled, modular, pebble bed reactor. Key technology areas associated with this design are being investigated which intend to address issues concerning fuel performance, safety, core neutronics and proliferation resistance, economics and waste disposal. Research has been initiated in the following areas: · Improved fuel particle performance · Reactor physics · Economics · Proliferation resistance · Power conversion system modeling · Safety analysis · Regulatory and licensing strategy Recent accomplishments include: · Developed four conceptual models for fuel particle failures that are currently being evaluated by a series of ABAQUS analyses. Analytical fits to the results are being performed over a range of important parameters using statistical/factorial tools. The fits will be used in a Monte Carlo fuel performance code, which is under development. · A fracture mechanics approach has been used to develop a failure probability model for the fuel particle, which has resulted in significant improvement over earlier models. · Investigation of fuel particle physio-chemical behavior has been initiated which includes the development of a fission gas release model, particle temperature distributions, internal particle pressure, migration of fission products, and chemical attack of fuel particle layers. · A balance of plant, steady-state thermal hydraulics model has been developed to represent all major components of a MPBR. Component models are being refined to accurately reflect transient performance. · A comparison between air and helium for use in the energy-conversion cycle of the MPBR has been completed and formed the basis of a master’s degree thesis. · Safety issues associated with air ingress are being evaluated. · Post shutdown, reactor heat removal characteristics are being evaluated by the Heating-7 code. · PEBBED, a fast deterministic neutronic code package suitable for

When we play games of any kind, from tennis to board games, it is easy to notice that games seem to be configured in space, often using stripes or a kind of map on a board. Some games are clearly performed within this marked border, while it may be difficult to pinpoint such a border in games like...... hide-and-seek, but even these games are still spatially configured. The border (visible or not) both seem to separate and uphold the game that it is meant for. This chapter sets out to analyse the possible border that separates a game from the surrounding world. Johan Huizinga noted this “separateness......” in his classic work “Homo Ludens” (Huizinga 1938, translated into English 1971). This has since been developed into the concept of the “magic circle” by Salen and Zimmerman (2003), as an understanding of playing games as a kind of alternate reality. When a person cross the magic circle of a game, he...

Two-person neuroscience, a perspective in understanding human social cognition and interaction, involves designing immersive social interaction experiments as well as simultaneously recording brain activity of two or more subjects, a process termed "hyperscanning." Using newly developed imaging techniques, the interbrain connectivity or hyperlink of various types of social interaction has been revealed. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-hyperscanning provides a more naturalistic environment for experimental paradigms of social interaction and has recently drawn much attention. However, most fNIRS-hyperscanning studies have computed hyperlinks using sensor data directly while ignoring the fact that the sensor-level signals contain confounding noises, which may lead to a loss of sensitivity and specificity in hyperlink analysis. In this study, on the basis of independent component analysis (ICA), a source-level analysis framework is proposed to investigate the hyperlinks in a fNIRS two-person neuroscience study. The performance of five widely used ICA algorithms in extracting sources of interaction was compared in simulative datasets, and increased sensitivity and specificity of hyperlink analysis by our proposed method were demonstrated in both simulative and real two-person experiments.

Modular Pebble Bed Reactor (MPBR) is a high temperature gas-cooled nuclear power reactor. This project investigated the feasibility of using the passive neutron counting and active neutron/gamma counting for the on line fuel burnup measurement for MPBR. To investigate whether there is a correlation between neutron emission and fuel burnup, the MPBR fuel depletion was simulated under different irradiation conditions by ORIGEN2. It was found that the neutron emission from an irradiated pebble increases with burnup super-linearly and reaches to 104 neutron/sec/pebble at the discharge burnup. The photon emission from an irradiated pebble was found to be in the order of 1013 photon/sec/pebble at all burnup levels. Analysis shows that the neutron emission rate of an irradiated pebble is sensitive to its burnup history and the spectral-averaged one-group cross sections used in the depletion calculations, which consequently leads to large uncertainty in the correlation between neutron emission and burnup. At low burnup levels, the uncertainty in the neutron emission/burnup correlation is too high and the neutron emission rate is too low so that it is impossible to determine a pebble's burnup by on-line neutron counting at low burnup levels. At high burnup levels, the uncertainty in the neutron emission rate becomes less but is still large in quantity. However, considering the super-linear feature of the correlation, the uncertainty in burnup determination was found to be ˜7% at the discharge burnup, which is acceptable. Therefore, total neutron emission rate of a pebble can be used as a burnup indicator to determine whether a pebble should be discharged or not. The feasibility of using passive neutron counting methods for the on-line burnup measurement was investigated by using a general Monte Carlo code, MCNP, to assess the detectability of the neutron emission and the capability to discriminate gamma noise by commonly used neutron detectors. It was found that both He-3

By using laboratory experimental data, we test the uncertainty of strategy type in various competing environments with two-person constant sum 2×2 game in the social system. It firstly shows that, in these competing game environments, the outcome of human's decision-making obeys the principle of the maximum entropy. -- Highlights: ► Test the uncertainty in two-person constant sum games with experimental data. ► On game level, the constant sum game fits the principle of maximum entropy. ► On group level, all empirical entropy values are close to theoretical maxima. ► The results can be different for the games that are not constant sum game.

A two-person zero-sum infinite dimensional differential game of infinite duration with discounted payoff involving hybrid controls is studied. The minimizing player is allowed to take continuous, switching and impulse controls whereas the maximizing player is allowed to take continuous and switching controls. By taking strategies in the sense of Elliott–Kalton, we prove the existence of value and characterize it as the unique viscosity solution of the associated system of quasi-variational inequalities.

This text serves as a thorough introduction to the rapidly developing field of positional games. This area constitutes an important branch of combinatorics, whose aim it is to systematically develop an extensive mathematical basis for a variety of two-player perfect information games. These range from such popular games as Tic-Tac-Toe and Hex to purely abstract games played on graphs and hypergraphs. The subject of positional games is strongly related to several other branches of combinatorics such as Ramsey theory, extremal graph and set theory, and the probabilistic method. These notes cover a variety of topics in positional games, including both classical results and recent important developments. They are presented in an accessible way and are accompanied by exercises of varying difficulty, helping the reader to better understand the theory. The text will benefit both researchers and graduate students in combinatorics and adjacent fields.

The Internet exhibits forms of interactions which are not captured by existing models in economics, artificial intelligence and game theory. New models are needed to deal with these multi-agent interactions. In this paper we present a new model--distributed games. In such a model each players controls a number of agents which participate in asynchronous parallel multi-agent interactions (games). The agents jointly and strategically control the level of information monitoring by broadcasting m...

This chapter outlines the conventions and pleasures of simulation games as a category, and explores the complicated and contested term simulation. This concept goes to the heart of what computer games and video games are, and the ways in which they articulate ideas, processes, and phenomena between their virtual worlds and the actual world. It has been argued that simulations generate and communicate knowledge and events quite differently from the long-­dominant cultural mode of narrative. Th...

T hese days one of the buzzwords in computer game industry and research is ‘Serious Games’ – games where the actions of the player are not limited to the virtual world but are somehow related to the real world. Computer games can be strong environments for learning and training skills in the real...... world. Computer games can also be persuasive – they can be used for advertising (‘adver-gaming’) and induce the players to buy a particular product in the real world or they can propagate a particular political viewpoint or a critique of the real world. The area of ‘serious gaming’ is vast and varied....

. Experiments can be set up to explore possible futures and design games has the qualities of elegantly focus the work at the same time as it lessens the burden for the process facilitator. The present paper goes into detail about how design games can be set up to facilitate collaboration and how the design......In this paper design games are discussed as an approach to managing design sessions. The focus is on the collaborative design session and more particular on how to set up the collaboration and reinsure progress. Design games have the advantage of framing the collaborative assignment at hand...

""Game Physics, 2nd Edition"" provides clear descriptions of the mathematics and algorithms needed to create a powerful physics engine - while providing a solid reference for all of the math you will encounter anywhere in game development: quaternions, linear algebra, and calculus. Implementing physical simulations for real-time games is a complex task that requires a solid understanding of a wide range of concepts from the fields of mathematics and physics. Previously, the relevant information could only be gleaned through obscure research papers. Thanks to ""Game Physics"", all this informa

In this paper design games are discussed as an approach to managing design sessions. The focus is on the collaborative design session and more particular on how to set up the collaboration and reinsure progress. Design games have the advantage of framing the collaborative assignment at hand....... Experiments can be set up to explore possible futures and design games has the qualities of elegantly focus the work at the same time as it lessens the burden for the process facilitator. The present paper goes into detail about how design games can be set up to facilitate collaboration and how the design...

T hese days one of the buzzwords in computer game industry and research is ‘Serious Games’ – games where the actions of the player are not limited to the virtual world but are somehow related to the real world. Computer games can be strong environments for learning and training skills in the real...... world. Computer games can also be persuasive – they can be used for advertising (‘adver-gaming’) and induce the players to buy a particular product in the real world or they can propagate a particular political viewpoint or a critique of the real world. The area of ‘serious gaming’ is vast and varied....

, called “pervasive games.” These are games that are based on computer technology, but use a physical space as the game space as opposed to video games. Coupling spatial configuration with performance theory of rituals as liminal phenomena, I put forward a model and a new understanding of the magic circle......When we play games of any kind, from tennis to board games, it is easy to notice that games seem to be configured in space, often using stripes or a kind of map on a board. Some games are clearly performed within this marked border, while it may be difficult to pinpoint such a border in games like...... or she suddenly finds himself in another world, where artefacts are given new meaning and where other rules apply. This makes sense, but also demands that play and non-play can be easily separated. Even so, the concept of the magic circle has never been analysed with respect to the spatial configuration...

It is widely held that the first step in forming the gas giant planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, is to form solid `cores' of roughly 10 M$_\\oplus$. Getting the cores to form before the solar nebula dissipates ($\\sim\\!1-10\\,$Myr) has been a major challenge for planet formation models. Recently models have emerged in which `pebbles' (centimeter- to meter-size objects) are first concentrated by aerodynamic drag and then gravitationally collapse to form 100 --- 1000 km objects. These `planetesimals' can then efficiently accrete leftover pebbles and directly form the cores of giant planets. This model known as `pebble accretion', theoretically, can produce 10 M$_\\oplus$ cores in only a few thousand years. Unfortunately, full simulations of this process show that, rather than creating a few 10 M$_\\oplus$ cores, it produces a population of hundreds of Earth-mass objects that are inconsistent with the structure of the Solar System. Here we report that this difficulty can be overcome if pebbles form slowly enough t...

A method for separating CO.sub.2 from gas mixtures uses a slurried media impregnated with buffer compounds and coating the solid media with a catalyst or enzyme that promotes the transformation of CO.sub.2 to carbonic acid. Buffer sorbent pebbles with a catalyst or enzyme coating are provided for rapid separation of CO.sub.2 from gas mixtures.

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a major impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6-cm-diam spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10 m with bottom funnels angled at 30 degrees or 60 degrees. We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.

A method for separating CO.sub.2 from gas mixtures uses a slurried media impregnated with buffer compounds and coating the solid media with a catalyst or enzyme that promotes the transformation of CO.sub.2 to carbonic acid. Buffer sorbent pebbles with a catalyst or enzyme coating are provided for rapid separation of CO.sub.2 from gas mixtures.

In the Solar System giant planets come in two flavours: 'gas giants' (Jupiter and Saturn) with massive gas envelopes and 'ice giants' (Uranus and Neptune) with much thinner envelopes around their cores. It is poorly understood how these two classes of planets formed. High solid accretion rates, necessary to form the cores of giant planets within the life-time of protoplanetary discs, heat the envelope and prevent rapid gas contraction onto the core, unless accretion is halted. We find that, in fact, accretion of pebbles (~ cm-sized particles) is self-limiting: when a core becomes massive enough it carves a gap in the pebble disc. This halt in pebble accretion subsequently triggers the rapid collapse of the super-critical gas envelope. As opposed to gas giants, ice giants do not reach this threshold mass and can only bind low-mass envelopes that are highly enriched by water vapour from sublimated icy pebbles. This offers an explanation for the compositional difference between gas giants and ice giants in the S...

Achieving a high burnup in the Deep-Burn pebble bed reactor design, while remaining within the limits for fuel temperature, power peaking and temperature reactivity feedback, is challenging. The high content of Pu and Minor Actinides in the Deep-Burn fuel significantly impacts the thermal neutron energy spectrum. This can result in power and temperature peaking in the pebble bed core in locally thermalized regions near the graphite reflectors. Furthermore, the interplay of the Pu resonances of the neutron absorption cross sections at low-lying energies can lead to a positive temperature reactivity coefficient for the graphite moderator at certain operating conditions. To investigate the aforementioned effects a code system using existing codes has been developed for neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and fuel depletion analysis of Deep-Burn pebble bed reactors. A core analysis of a Deep-Burn Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (400 MWth) design has been performed for two Deep-Burn fuel types and possible improvements of the design with regard to power peaking and temperature reactivity feedback are identified.

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a ma jor impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6cm-diameter spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10m with bottom funnels angled at 30° or 60° . We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.

Tritium release kinetics, using the method of thermal ramp heating at three linear ramp rates, were measured on the COBRA-1A2 C03 1-mm beryllium pebbles. This report includes a brief discussion of the test, and the test data in graph format.

The core design of a pebble-bed type Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is optimized, aiming for an increase of the coolant outlet temperature to 1000 C, while retaining its inherent safety features. The VHTR has been selected by the international Generation IV research initiative as one of the si

The scope of the work reported here, which is the computational study of graphite wear behavior, supports the Nuclear Engineering University Programs project "Experimental Study and Computational Simulations of Key Pebble Bed Thermomechanics Issues for Design and Safety" funded by the US Department of Energy. In this work, modeling and simulating the contact mechanics, as anticipated in a PBR configuration, is carried out for the purpose of assessing the amount of dust generated during a full power operation year of a PBR. A methodology that encompasses finite element analysis (FEA) and micromechanics of wear is developed to address the issue of dust production and its quantification. Particularly, the phenomenon of wear and change of its rate with sliding length is the main focus of this dissertation. This work studies the wear properties of graphite by simulating pebble motion and interactions of a specific type of nuclear grade graphite, IG-11. This study consists of two perspectives: macroscale stress analysis and microscale analysis of wear mechanisms. The first is a set of FEA simulations considering pebble-pebble frictional contact. In these simulations, the mass of generated graphite particulates due to frictional contact is calculated by incorporating FEA results into Archard's equation, which is a linear correlation between wear mass and wear length. However, the experimental data by Johnson, University of Idaho, revealed that the wear rate of graphite decreases with sliding length. This is because the surfaces of the graphite pebbles become smoother over time, which results in a gradual decrease in wear rate. In order to address the change in wear rate, a more detailed analysis of wear mechanisms at room temperature is presented. In this microscale study, the wear behavior of graphite at the asperity level is studied by simulating the contact between asperities of facing surfaces. By introducing the effect of asperity removal on wear rate, a nonlinear

Full Text Available Fission products deposited in the coolant circuit outside of the active core play a dominant role in source term estimations for advanced small pebble bed HTRs, particularly in design basis accidents (DBA. The deposited fission products may be released in depressurization accidents because present pebble bed HTR concepts abstain from a gas tight containment. Contamination of the circuit also hinders maintenance work. Experiments, performed from 1972 to 88 on the AVR, an experimental pebble bed HTR, allow for a deeper insight into fission product transport behavior. The activity deposition per coolant pass was lower than expected and was influenced by fission product chemistry and by presence of carbonaceous dust. The latter lead also to inconsistencies between Cs plate out experiments in laboratory and in AVR. The deposition behavior of Ag was in line with present models. Dust as activity carrier is of safety relevance because of its mobility and of its sorption capability for fission products. All metal surfaces in pebble bed reactors were covered by a carbonaceous dust layer. Dust in AVR was produced by abrasion in amounts of about 5 kg/y. Additional dust sources in AVR were ours oil ingress and peeling of fuel element surfaces due to an air ingress. Dust has a size of about 1 m, consists mainly of graphite, is partly remobilized by flow perturbations, and deposits with time constants of 1 to 2 hours. In future reactors, an efficient filtering via a gas tight containment is required because accidents with fast depressurizations induce dust mobilization. Enhanced core temperatures in normal operation as in AVR and broken fuel pebbles have to be considered, as inflammable dust concentrations in the gas phase.

Highlights: • A CFD-DEM coupled numerical model is built based on the prototypical blanket pebble bed. • The numerical model can be applied to simulate heat transfer of a pebble bed and estimate effective thermal conductivity. • The numerical model agrees well with the theoretical SZB model. • Effective thermal conductivity of pebble beds for WCCB is estimated by the current model. - Abstract: The mono-sized beryllium pebble bed and the multi-sized Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}/Be{sub 12}Ti mixed pebble bed are the main schemes for the Water-cooled ceramic breeder blanket (WCCB) of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). And the effective thermal conductivity (k{sub eff}) of the pebble beds is important to characterize the thermal performance of WCCB. In this study, a one-way coupled CFD-DEM method was employed to simulate heat transfer and estimate k{sub eff}. The geometric topology of a prototypical blanket pebble bed was produced by the discrete element method (DEM). Based on the geometric topology, the temperature distribution and the k{sub eff} were obtained by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The current numerical model presented a good performance to calculate k{sub eff} of the beryllium pebble bed, and according to the modeling of the Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}/Be{sub 12}Ti mixed pebble bed, k{sub eff} was estimated with values ranged between 2.0 and 4.0 W/(m∙K).

Mutual imitation games among artificial birds are studied. By employing a variety of mappings and game rules, the evolution to the edge between chaos and windows is universally confirmed. Some other general features are observed, including punctuated equilibria, and successive alternations of dominant species with temporal complexity. Diversity of species aided by the symbolization of artificial birds' song are also shown.

The Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR) is a helium-cooled, graphite-moderated high temperature nuclear power reactor. In addition to its inherently safe design, a unique feature of this reactor is its multipass fuel cycle in which graphite fuel pebbles (of varying enrichment) are randomly loaded and continuously circulated through the core until they reach their prescribed end-of-life burnup limit (˜80,000--100,000 MWD/MTU). Unlike the situation with conventional light water reactors (LWRs), depending solely on computational methods to perform in-core fuel management will be highly inaccurate. As a result, an on-line measurement approach becomes the only accurate method to assess whether a particular pebble has reached its end-of-life burnup limit. In this work, an investigation was performed to assess the feasibility of passive gamma-ray spectrometry assay as an approach for on-line interrogation of PBR fuel for the simultaneous determination of burnup and enrichment on a pebble-by-pebble basis. Due to the unavailability of irradiated or fresh pebbles, Monte Carlo simulations were used to study the gamma-ray spectra of the PBR fuel at various levels of burnup. A pebble depletion calculation was performed using the ORIGEN code, which yielded the gamma-ray source term that was introduced into the input of an MCNP simulation. The MCNP simulation assumed the use of a high-purity coaxial germanium detector. Due to the lack of one-group high temperature reactor cross sections for ORIGEN, a heterogeneous MCNP model was developed to describe a typical PBR core. Subsequently, the code MONTEBURNS was used to couple the MCNP model and ORIGEN. This approach allowed the development of the burnup-dependent, one-group spectral-averaged PBR cross sections to be used in the ORIGEN pebble depletion calculation. Based on the above studies, a relative approach for performing the measurements was established. The approach is based on using the relative activities of Np-239/I-132 in combination

Let v be an assignment game. For a given reference payoff vector (x; y), and a coalition S, bargaining within the coalition can be represented by either the reduced game or the derived game. It is known that the reduced game need not be an assignment game (in fact, it need not be super additive) while the derived game is another assignment game, with modified reservation prices. We prove that, when the reference vector is in the core of the game, the derived game is the super additive cover o...

Let v be an assignment game. For a given reference payoff vector (x; y), and a coalition S, bargaining within the coalition can be represented by either the reduced game or the derived game. It is known that the reduced game need not be an assignment game (in fact, it need not be super additive) while the derived game is another assignment game, with modified reservation prices. We prove that, when the reference vector is in the core of the game, the derived game is the super additive cover o...

Lithium metatitanate (Li2TiO3) is a candidate breeding material of the Helium Cooled Ceramic Reflector (HCCR) Test Blanket Module (TBM). The breeding material is used in pebble-bed form to reduce the uncertainty of the interface thermal conductance. In this study, Li2TiO3 pebbles were successfully fabricated by the slurry droplet wetting method using the cross-linking reaction between polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and boric acid. The effects of fabrication parameters on the shaping of Li2TiO3 green body were investigated. In addition, the basic characteristics of the sintered pebble were also evaluated. The shape of Li2TiO3 green bodies was affected by slurry viscosity, PVA content and boric acid content. The grain size and average crush load of sintered Li2TiO3 pebble were controlled by the sintering time. The boron was completely removed during the final sintering process.

Full Text Available Study of tritium and helium release from beryllium pebbles with diameters of 0.5 and 1mm after high-dose neutron irradiation at temperatures of 686–968K was performed. The release rate always has a single peak, and the peak temperatures at heating rates of 0.017K/s and 0.117K/s lie in the range of 1100–1350K for both tritium and helium release. The total tritium release from 1mm pebbles decreases considerably by increasing the irradiation temperature. The total tritium release from 0.5mm pebbles is less than that from 1mm pebbles and remains constant regardless of the irradiation temperature. At high irradiation temperatures, open channels are formed which contribute to the enhanced tritium release.

A novel design concept of molten salt pebble-bed reactor with an ultra-simplified integral primary circuit called 'Nuclear Hot Spring' has been proposed, featured by horizontal coolant flow in a deep pool pebble-bed reactor, providing 'natural safety' features with natural circulation under full power operation and less expensive primary circuit arrangement. In this work, the steady-state physical properties of the equilibrium state of the molten salt pebble-bed reactor are calculated by using the VSOP code, and the steady-state thermo-hydraulic analysis is carried out based on the approximation of absolutely horizontal flow of the coolant through the core. A new concept of 2-dimensional, both axial and radial, multi-pass on-line fuelling scheme is presented. The result reveals that the radial multi-pass scheme provides more flattened power distribution and safer temperature distribution than the one-pass scheme. A parametric analysis is made corresponding to different pebble diameters, the key parameter of the core resistance and the temperature at the pebble center. It is verified that within a wide range of pebble diameters, the maximum pebble center temperatures are far below the safety limit of the fuel, and the core resistance is considerably less than the buoyant force, indicating that the natural circulation under full power operation is achievable and the ultra-simplified integral primary circuit without any pump is possible. For the kinetic properties, it is verified that the negative temperature coefficient is achieved in sufficient under-moderated condition through the preliminary analysis on the temperature coefficients of fuel, coolant and moderator. The requirement of reactivity compensation at the shutdown stages of the operation period is calculated for the further studies on the reactivity control. The molten salt pebble-bed reactor with horizontal coolant flow can provide enhanced safety and economical features. (authors)

This report documents the results of our research in FY-02 on pebble-bed reactor technology under our Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project entitled the Modular Pebble-Bed Reactor. The MPBR is an advanced reactor concept that can meet the energy and environmental needs of future generations under DOE’s Generation IV initiative. Our work is focused in three areas: neutronics, core design and fuel cycle; reactor safety and thermal hydraulics; and fuel performance.

This report documents the results of our research in FY-02 on pebble-bed reactor technology under our Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project entitled the Modular Pebble-Bed Reactor. The MPBR is an advanced reactor concept that can meet the energy and environmental needs of future generations under DOE’s Generation IV initiative. Our work is focused in three areas: neutronics, core design and fuel cycle; reactor safety and thermal hydraulics; and fuel performance.

Context. The classical "planetesimal" accretion scenario for the formation of planets has recently evolved with the idea that "pebbles", centimeter- to meter-sized icy grains migrating in protoplanetary disks, can control planetesimal and/or planetary growth. Aims. We investigate how pebble accretion depends on disk properties and affects the formation of planetary systems Methods. We construct analytical models of pebble accretion onto planetary embryos that consistently account for the mass and orbital evolution of the pebble flow and reflect disk structure. Results. We derive simple formulas for pebble accretion rates in the so-called "settling" regime for planetary embryos with more than 100 km in size. For relatively smaller embryos or in outer disk regions, the accretion mode is 3D, meaning that the thickness of the pebble flow must be taken into account, and resulting in an accretion rate that is independent of the embryo mass. For larger embryos or in inner regions, the accretion is in a 2D mode, i.e....

Offers game developers new techniques for streamlining the critical game tools pipeline. Inspires game developers to share their secrets and improve the productivity of the entire industry. Helps game industry practitioners compete in a hyper-competitive environment.

... Donor Community > Games > Donor Tag Game Donor Tag Game This feature requires version 6 or later of ... of Needles LGBTQ+ Donors Blood Donor Community SleevesUp Games Facebook Avatars and Badges Banners eCards Make a ...

@@ China is not expected to sweep the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games the way it dominated the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.However,it has made Chinese Olympic history after winning three gold medals when the Games passed the halfway point of scheduled competition on February 20.On that day,18-year-old Zhou Yang overcame three South Korean rivals to win the women's short-track speed skating 1,500-meter final.

In this paper we focus on property-preserving preorders between timed game automata and their application to control of partially observable systems. Following the example of timed simulation between timed automata, we define timed alternating simulation as a preorder between timed game automata......, which preserves controllability. We define a method to reduce the timed alternating simulation problem to a safety game. We show how timed alternating simulation can be used to control efficiently a partially observable system. This method is illustrated by a generic case study....

In this paper we focus on property-preserving preorders between timed game automata and their application to control of partially observable systems. Following the example of timed simulation between timed automata, we define timed alternating simulation as a preorder between timed game automata......, which preserves controllability. We define a method to reduce the timed alternating simulation problem to a safety game. We show how timed alternating simulation can be used to control efficiently a partially observable system. This method is illustrated by a generic case study....

The four ITER partners propose to use binary beryllium pebble bed as neutron multiplier. Recently this solution has been adopted for the ITER blanket as well. In order to study the heat transfer in the blanket the effective thermal conductivity and the wall heat transfer coefficient of the bed have to be known. Therefore at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe heat transfer experiments have been performed with a binary bed of beryllium pebbles and the results have been correlated expressing thermal conductivity and wall heat transfer coefficients as a function of temperature in the bed and of the difference between the thermal expansion of the bed and of that of the confinement walls. The comparison of the obtained correlations with the data available from the literature show a quite good agreement. (author)

Oil residues along shorelines are hard to remove after an oil spill. The effect of biodiesel to eliminate crude oil from pebbles alone and in combination with petroleum degrading bacteria was investigated in simulated systems. Adding biodiesel made oil detach from pebbles and formed oil-biodiesel mixtures, most of which remained on top of seawater. The total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal efficiency increased with biodiesel quantities but the magnitude of augment decreased gradually. When used with petroleum degrading bacteria, the addition of biodiesel (BD), nutrients (NUT) and BD+NUT increased the dehydrogenase activity and decreased the biodegradation half lives. When BD and NUT were replenished at the same time, the TPH removal efficiency was 7.4% higher compared to the total improvement of efficiency when BD and NUT was added separately, indicating an additive effect of biodiesel and nutrients on oil biodegradation.

Full Text Available Given the role of Gas-Graphite reactors as the fourth generation reactors and their recently renewed importance, in 2002 the IAEA proposed a set of Benchmarking problems. In this work, we propose a model both efficient in time and resources and exact to simulate the HTR-10 reactor using MCNP-4C code. During the present work, all of the pressing factors in PBM reactor design such as the inter-pebble leakage, fuel particle distribution and fuel pebble packing fraction effects have been taken into account to obtain an exact and easy to run model. Finally, the comparison between the results of the present work and other calculations made at INEEL proves the exactness of the proposed model.

Previous work on protoplanetary dust growth shows halt at centimeter sizes owing to the occurrence of bouncing at velocities of $\\geq$ 0.1 $ms^{-1}$ and fragmentation at velocities $\\geq$ 1 $ms^{-1}$. To overcome these barriers, spatial concentration of cm-sized dust pebbles and subsequent gravitational collapse have been proposed. However, numerical investigations have shown that dust aggregates may undergo fragmentation during the gravitational collapse phase. This fragmentation in turn changes the size distribution of the solids and thus must be taken into account in order to understand the properties of the planetesimals that form. To explore the fate of dust pebbles undergoing fragmenting collisions, we conducted laboratory experiments on dust-aggregate collisions with a focus on establishing a collision model for this stage of planetesimal formation. In our experiments, we analysed collisions of dust aggregates with masses between 1.4 g and 180 g, mass ratios between target and projectile from 125 to 1 ...

This study explores the use of an automated, image-based method for characterizing grain-size distributions (GSDs) of exposed, open-framework gravel beds. This was done by comparing the GSDs measured with an image-based method to distributions obtained with two pebble-count methods. Selection of grains for the two pebble-count methods was carried out using a gridded sampling frame and the heel-to-toe Wolman walk method at six field sites. At each site, 500-partcle pebble-count samples were collected with each of the two pebble-count methods and digital images were systematically collected over the same sampling area. For the methods used, the pebble counts collected with the gridded sampling frame were assumed to be the most accurate representations of the true grain-size population, and results from the image-based method were compared to the grid derived GSDs for accuracy estimates; comparisons between the grid and Wolman walk methods were conducted to give an indication of possible variation between commonly used methods for each particular field site. Comparison of grain sizes were made at two spatial scales. At the larger scale, results from the image-based method were integrated over the sampling area required to collect the 500-particle pebble-count samples. At the smaller sampling scale, the image derived GSDs were compared to those from 100-particle, pebble-count samples obtained with the gridded sampling frame. The comparisons show that the image-based method performed reasonably well on five of the six study sites. For those five sites, the image-based method slightly underestimate all grain-size percentiles relative to the pebble counts collected with the gridded sampling frame. The average bias for Ψ5, Ψ50, and Ψ95 between the image and grid count methods at the larger sampling scale was 0.07Ψ, 0.04Ψ, and 0.19Ψ respectively; at the smaller sampling scale the average bias was 0.004Ψ, 0.03Ψ, and 0.18Ψ respectively. The average bias between the

Molecular Probes' Alexa Fluor dyes are generally used for biological labeling because of their ideal fluorescent properties, but here we detail Alexa Fluor 488's nanomolar sensitivity to free iron. Furthermore, the dye has been encapsulated into a polymer nanosphere by a microemulsion method, producing <100 nm particles. These nanosensors, PEBBLEs (Probe Encapsulated By Biologically Localized Embedding) have micromolar sensitivity and are non-responsive to other metal ions of biological interest.

Full Text Available Lack of energy is a major crisis of our century; the irregular increase of fossil fuel costs has forced us to search for novel, cheaper, and safer sources of energy. Pebble bed reactors - an advanced new generation of reactors with specific advantages in safety and cost - might turn out to be the desired candidate for the role. The calculation of the critical height of a pebble bed reactor at room temperature, while using the MCNP-4C computer code, is the main goal of this paper. In order to reduce the MCNP computing time compared to the previously proposed schemes, we have devised a new simulation scheme. Different arrangements of kernels in fuel pebble simulations were investigated and the best arrangement to decrease the MCNP execution time (while keeping the accuracy of the results, chosen. The neutron flux distribution and control rods worth, as well as their shadowing effects, have also been considered in this paper. All calculations done for the HTR-10 reactor core are in good agreement with experimental results.

Most of the foreign bodies detected in adult gastrointestinal systems are accidentally swallowed pins. In this study, we presented a case with intracolonic multiple pebbles. A 20-year-old man was admitted to emergency surgery policlinic for abdominal pain for 2 d without any alleviation or aggravation. His upright plain abdominal radiographic imaging revealed about 30-40 overt dense opacities in lumen of colonic segments, with oval and well shaped contours, each approximately 1cm x 1cm in size. The multiplanar reconstructions and threedimensional images combined with sectional screening showed that all pebbles had passed completely into the colon and no foreign bodies had remained in the ileal segments. On psychiatric assessment, he was found to have immature personality features, difficulty in overcoming stressors and adaptation disorder. He recovered by conservative management and radiographic monitoring applied during his follow-up. Thus, it can be concluded that, in differential diagnosis of abdominal pain in adult ages, though less frequently seen than in children,gastrointestinal system foreign bodies should always be kept in mind and it should be considered that ingestion of pebbles may be one of the factors contributing to abdominal pain particularly in young adults with psychiatric problems. In such cases suspected of having foreign bodies which cannot be detected by plain films, abdominal tomography can be an alternative for diagnostic imaging.

Highlights: ► We evaluated the load acting on the central reflector beam of a pebble bed reactor. ► The load acting on the reflector beam highly depends on fuel element distribution. ► The contact force values do not show high dependence on fuel element distribution. ► Earthquake increases the load of the reflector, not the contact forces. -- Abstract: Pebble bed reactors (PBR) are graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactors. PBR reactors use a large number of spherical fuel elements called pebbles. From mechanical point of view, the arrangement of “small” spherical fuel elements in a container poses the same problem, as the so-called silo problem in powder technology and agricultural engineering. To get more exact information about the contact forces arising between the fuel elements in static and dynamic case, we simulated the static case and the effects of an earthquake on a model reactor by using discrete element method. We determined the maximal contact forces acting between the individual fuel elements. We found that the value of the maximal bending moment in the central reflector beam has a high deviation from the average value even in static case, and it can significantly increase in case of an earthquake. Our results can help the engineers working on the design of such types of reactors to get information about the contact forces, to determine the dust production and the crush probability of fuel elements within the reactor, and to model different accident scenarios.

A review of literature associated with Pebble Bed and Particle Bed reactor core research has revealed a systemic problem inherent to reactor core concepts which utilize randomized rather than structured coolant channel flow paths. For both the Pebble Bed and Particle Bed Reactor designs; case studies reveal that for indeterminate reasons, regions within the core would suffer from excessive heating leading to thermal runaway and localized fuel melting. A thermal Computational Fluid Dynamics model was utilized to verify that In both the Pebble Bed and Particle Bed Reactor concepts randomized coolant channel pathways combined with localized high temperature regions would work together to resist the flow of coolant diverting it away from where it is needed the most to cooler less resistive pathways where it is needed the least. In other words given the choice via randomized coolant pathways the reactor coolant will take the path of least resistance, and hot zones offer the highest resistance. Having identified the relationship between randomized coolant channel pathways and localized fuel melting it is now safe to assume that other reactor concepts that utilize randomized coolant pathways such as the foam core reactor are also susceptible to this phenomenon.

A method for designing and optimizing recirculating pebble-bed reactor cores is presented. At the heart of the method is a new reactor physics computer code, PEBBED, which accurately and efficiently computes the neutronic and material properties of the asymptotic (equilibrium) fuel cycle. This core state is shown to be unique for a given core geometry, power level, discharge burnup, and fuel circulation policy. Fuel circulation in the pebble-bed can be described in terms of a few well?defined parameters and expressed as a recirculation matrix. The implementation of a few heat?transfer relations suitable for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors allows for the rapid estimation of thermal properties critical for safe operation. Thus, modeling and design optimization of a given pebble-bed core can be performed quickly and efficiently via the manipulation of a limited number key parameters. Automation of the optimization process is achieved by manipulation of these parameters using a genetic algorithm. The end result is an economical, passively safe, proliferation-resistant nuclear power plant.

In the past two decades, there has been a steadily increasing interest in the use of games for educational purposes. This has led to an increased design, use and study of educational games; games where the players learn through playing. However, experiments with the educational use of games have not

In the past two decades, there has been a steadily increasing interest in the use of games for educational purposes. This has led to an increased design, use and study of educational games; games where the players learn through playing. However, experiments with the educational use of games have not

Full Text Available Reciprocating exchange with other humans requires individuals to infer the intentions of their partners. Despite the importance of this ability in healthy cognition and its impact in disease, the dimensions employed and computations involved in such inferences are not clear. We used a computational theory-of-mind model to classify styles of interaction in 195 pairs of subjects playing a multi-round economic exchange game. This classification produces an estimate of a subject's depth-of-thought in the game (low, medium, high, a parameter that governs the richness of the models they build of their partner. Subjects in each category showed distinct neural correlates of learning signals associated with different depths-of-thought. The model also detected differences in depth-of-thought between two groups of healthy subjects: one playing patients with psychiatric disease and the other playing healthy controls. The neural response categories identified by this computational characterization of theory-of-mind may yield objective biomarkers useful in the identification and characterization of pathologies that perturb the capacity to model and interact with other humans.

This paper presents preliminary results from novel experiments aiming to assess coarse sediment transport statistics for a range of transport conditions, via the use of an innovative "smart-pebble" device. This device is a waterproof sphere, which has 7 cm diameter and is equipped with a number of sensors that provide information about the velocity, acceleration and positioning of the "smart-pebble" within the flow field. A series of specifically designed experiments are carried out to monitor the entrainment of a "smart-pebble" for fully developed, uniform, turbulent flow conditions over a hydraulically rough bed. Specifically, the bed surface is configured to three sections, each of them consisting of well packed glass beads of slightly increasing size at the downstream direction. The first section has a streamwise length of L1=150 cm and beads size of D1=15 mm, the second section has a length of L2=85 cm and beads size of D2=22 mm, and the third bed section has a length of L3=55 cm and beads size of D3=25.4 mm. Two cameras monitor the area of interest to provide additional information regarding the "smart-pebble" movement. Three-dimensional flow measurements are obtained with the aid of an acoustic Doppler velocimeter along a measurement grid to assess the flow forcing field. A wide range of flow rates near and above the threshold of entrainment is tested, while using four distinct densities for the "smart-pebble", which can affect its transport speed and total momentum. The acquired data are analyzed to derive Lagrangian transport statistics and the implications of such an important experiment for the transport of particles by rolling are discussed. The flow conditions for the initiation of motion, particle accelerations and equilibrium particle velocities (translating into transport rates), statistics of particle impact and its motion, can be extracted from the acquired data, which can be further compared to develop meaningful insights for sediment transport

This study, reports on the analysis of appropriately designed fluvial experiments investigating the transport of coarse bed material using two approaches: particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) to extract bulk transport parameters and inertia sensor data (via the use of "smart-pebbles") to obtain refined statistics for the transport of the particle. The purpose of this study is to provide further insight on the use of technologies (optical techniques and inertial sensors) that are complementary one to another, towards producing improved estimates of bedload transport in natural rivers. The experiments are conducted in the Water Engineering Lab at the University of Glasgow on a tilting recirculating flume with 90 cm width. Ten different discharges have been implemented in this study. A couple of fake beds, made of well-packed beads of three different sizes have been set up in the flume. The particle motion is captured by two high-speed commercial cameras, responsible for recording the top view covering the full length of the fake beds over which the "smart-pebble" is allowed to be transported. "Smart-pebbles" of four different densities are initially located at the upstream end of the configuration, fully exposed to the instream flow. These are instrumented with appropriate inertial sensors that allow recording the particle's motion, in the Langrangian frame, in high resolution. Specifically, the "smart-pebble" employ a tri-axial gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer, which are utilized to obtain minute linear and angular displacements in high frequency (up to 200Hz). However, these are not enough to accurately reconstruct the full trajectory of the particles rolling downstream. To that goal optical methods are used. In particular, by using particle tracking velocimetry data and image processing techniques, the location, orientation and velocities of the "smart-pebble" are derived. Specific consideration is given to appropriately preprocess the obtained video, as

General game players are computer systems able to play strategy games based solely on formal game descriptions supplied at ""runtime"" (n other words, they don't know the rules until the game starts). Unlike specialized game players, such as Deep Blue, general game players cannot rely on algorithms designed in advance for specific games; they must discover such algorithms themselves. General game playing expertise depends on intelligence on the part of the game player and not just intelligence of the programmer of the game player.GGP is an interesting application in its own right. It is intell

Locating nonpoint source contaminant fluxes can be challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of source and of the subsurface. Contaminants such as arsenic are a concern for drinking water quality and ecosystem health. Arsenic contamination can be the result of several natural and anthropogenic sources, and therefore it can be difficult to trace and identify major areas of arsenic in natural systems. Identifying a useful source indicator for arsenic is a crucial step for environmental remediation efforts. Previous studies have found iron-manganese oxide coated streambed pebbles as useful source indicators due to their high attraction for heavy metals in water. In this study, pebbles, surface water at baseflow and nearby rocks were sampled from the Pennypack Creek and its tributaries, in southwestern Pennsylvania, to test the ability of coated streambed pebbles as environmental source indicators for arsenic. Quartz pebbles, 5-7 cm in diameter, were sampled to minimize elemental contamination from rock chemistry. In addition, quartz provides an excellent substrate for iron and manganese coatings to form. These coatings were leached from pebbles using 4M nitric acid with 0.1% concentrated hydrochloric acid. Following sample processing, analyses were performed using an ICP-MS and the resulting data were spatially organized using ArcGIS software. Arsenic, iron and manganese concentrations in the leachate are normalized to pebble surface area and each location is reported as a ratio of arsenic to iron and manganese. Results suggest that iron-manganese coated stream pebbles are useful indicators of arsenic location within a watershed.

Long-haul flight operations involve cumulative sleep loss, circadian disruption, and extended and irregular duty schedules. These factors reduce pilot alertness and performance on the flightdeck. Conceptually and operationally, alertness management in flight operations can be divided into preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. Preventive strategies are utilized prior to a duty period to mitigate or reduce the effects of sleep loss, circadian disruption and fatigue during subsequent flight operations. Operational countermeasures are used during operations as acute techniques for maintaining performance and alertness. Results from previous NASA Ames field studies document the sleep loss and circadian disruption in three-person long-haul flying and illustrate the application of preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. One strategy that can be used in both a preventive and operational manner is strategic napping. The application and effectiveness of strategic napping in long-haul operations will be discussed. Finally, long-haul flying in two-person highly automated aircraft capable of extended range operations will create new challenges to maintaining pilot alertness and performance. Alertness management issues in this flight environment will be explored.

There has recently been considerable attention paid to the gamification of digital journalism. Where the current technological and social affordances of web 2.0 storytelling have proved less attractive to younger users, the persuasive features of game logics have added new dimensions to interactive......, participatory journalism. This notion refers to realitybased news games that can act both as an independent medium for news content and as a supplement to traditional forms of coverage. Simultaneously, persuasive logics of gamification offer new ways to engage actuality through media space’s augmented reality....... This paper1 explores the new spatio-epistemological realities of two journalistic games, asking how the spatial, operational, and procedural realities of storytelling change through ‘gamification’. It reflects on the spatial dimension of digital journalism in order to challenge the traditional, generic...

Behavior in the context of game theory is described as a natural process that follows the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The rate of entropy increase as the payoff function is derived from statistical physics of open systems. The thermodynamic formalism relates everything in terms of energy and describes various ways to consume free energy. This allows us to associate game theoretical models of behavior to physical reality. Ultimately behavior is viewed as a physical process where flows of energy naturally select ways to consume free energy as soon as possible. This natural process is, according to the profound thermodynamic principle, equivalent to entropy increase in the least time. However, the physical portrayal of behavior does not imply determinism. On the contrary, evolutionary equation for open systems reveals that when there are three or more degrees of freedom for behavior, the course of a game is inherently unpredictable in detail because each move affects motives of moves in the future. Eventually, wh...

This paper is considered with relation between game and the History, in three various aspects: first part is dedicated to the meaning of noun "game" from its early stages till today, the second part relates to influences of game on human development and the third part deals with objectivity of historical facts in computer games.

As video games become a ubiquitous part of today's culture internationally, as educators and parents we need to turn our attention to how video games are being understood and used in informal and formal settings. Serious games have developed as a genre of video games marketed for educating youth about a range of world issues. At face value this…

As video games become a ubiquitous part of today's culture internationally, as educators and parents we need to turn our attention to how video games are being understood and used in informal and formal settings. Serious games have developed as a genre of video games marketed for educating youth about a range of world issues. At face value this…

The Deep-Burn (DB) concept focuses on the destruction of transuranic nuclides from used light water reactor fuel. These transuranic nuclides are incorporated into TRISO coated fuel particles and used in gas-cooled reactors with the aim of a fractional fuel burnup of 60 to 70% in fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA). This high performance is expected through the use of multiple recirculation passes of the fuel in pebble form without any physical or chemical changes between passes. In particular, the concept does not call for reprocessing of the fuel between passes. In principle, the DB pebble bed concept employs the same reactor designs as the presently envisioned low-enriched uranium core designs, such as the 400 MWth Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR-400). Although it has been shown in the previous Fiscal Year (2009) that a PuO2 fueled pebble bed reactor concept is viable, achieving a high fuel burnup, while remaining within safety-imposed prescribed operational limits for fuel temperature, power peaking and temperature reactivity feedback coefficients for the entire temperature range, is challenging. The presence of the isotopes 239-Pu, 240-Pu and 241-Pu that have resonances in the thermal energy range significantly modifies the neutron thermal energy spectrum as compared to a ”standard,” UO2-fueled core. Therefore, the DB pebble bed core exhibits a relatively hard neutron energy spectrum. However, regions within the pebble bed that are near the graphite reflectors experience a locally softer spectrum. This can lead to power and temperature peaking in these regions. Furthermore, a shift of the thermal energy spectrum with increasing temperature can lead to increased absorption in the resonances of the fissile Pu isotopes. This can lead to a positive temperature reactivity coefficient for the graphite moderator under certain operating conditions. The effort of this task in FY 2010 has focused on the optimization of the core to maximize the pebble discharge

Introduction: Critical tasks in high-risk environments are often performed by teams, the members of which must work together efficiently. In some situations, the team members may have to work together to solve a particular problem, while in others it may be better for them to divide the work into separate tasks that can be completed in parallel. We hypothesize that these two team strategies can be differentiated on the basis of shared visual attention, measured by gaze tracking. 2) Methods: Gaze recordings were obtained for two-person flight crews flying a high-fidelity simulator (Gontar, Hoermann, 2014). Gaze was categorized with respect to 12 areas of interest (AOIs). We used these data to construct time series of 12 dimensional vectors, with each vector component representing one of the AOIs. At each time step, each vector component was set to 0, except for the one corresponding to the currently fixated AOI, which was set to 1. This time series could then be averaged in time, with the averaging window time (t) as a variable parameter. For example, when we average with a t of one minute, each vector component represents the proportion of time that the corresponding AOI was fixated within the corresponding one minute interval. We then computed the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between the gaze proportion vectors for each of the two crew members, at each point in time, resulting in a signal representing the time-varying correlation between gaze behaviors. We determined criteria for concluding correlated gaze behavior using two methods: first, a permutation test was applied to the subjects' data. When one crew member's gaze proportion vector is correlated with a random time sample from the other crewmember's data, a distribution of correlation values is obtained that differs markedly from the distribution obtained from temporally aligned samples. In addition to validating that the gaze tracker was functioning reasonably well, this also allows us to

Li4SiO4 ceramic pebble is considered as a candidate tritium breeding material of Chinese Helium Cooled Solid Breeder Test Blanket Module (CH HCSB TBM) for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).In this paper,Li4SiO4 ceramic pebbles deposited with catalytic metals,including Pt,Pd,Ru and Ir,were prepared by wet impregnation method.The metal particles on Li4SiO4 pebble exhibit a good promotion of hydrogen isotope exchange reactions in H2-DzO gas system,with conversion equilibrium temperature reduction of 200-300 ℃.The out-of-pile tritium release experiments were performed using 1.0 wt％ Pt/Li4SiO4 and Li4SiO4 pebbles irradiated in a thermal neutron reactor.The thermal desorption spectroscopy shows that Pt was effective to increase the tritium release rate at lower temperatures,and the ratio of tritium molecule (HT) to tritiated water (HTO) of 1.0 wt％ Pt/Li4SiO4 was much more than that of Li4SiO4,which released mainly as HTO.Thus,catalytic metals deposited on Li4SiO4 pebble may help to accelerate the recovery of bred tritium particularly in low temperature region,and increase the tritium molecule form released from the tritium breeding materials.

The Cold Finger Apparatus (KühlFinger-Apparatur—KüFA) in operation at JRC-ITU is designed to experimentally scrutinize the effects of Depressurization LOss of Forced Circulation (D-LOFC) accident scenarios on irradiated High Temperature Reactor (HTR) fuel pebbles. Up to 1600 °C, the reference maximum temperature for these accidents, high-quality German HTR fuel pebbles have already demonstrated a small fission product release. This paper discusses and compares the releases obtained from KüFA-testing the pebbles HFR-K5/3 and HFR-EU1/3, which were both irradiated in the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten. We present the time-dependent fractional release of the volatile fission product {sup 137}Cs as well as the fission gas {sup 85}Kr for both pebbles. For HFR-EU1/3 the isotopes {sup 134}Cs and {sup 154}Eu as well as the shorter-lived {sup 110m}Ag have also been measured. A detailed description of the experimental setup and its accuracy is given. The data for the recently tested pebbles is discussed in the context of previous results.

Full Text Available The pebble bed type high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactor is a promising option for next generation reactor technology and has the potential to provide high efficiency and cost effective electricity generation. The reactor unit heat transfer poses a challenge due to the complexity associated with the thermalflow design. Therefore to reliably simulate the flow and heat transport of the pebble bed modular reactor necessitates a heat transfer model that deals with radiation as well as thermal convection and conduction. In this study, a model with the capability to simulate fluid flow and heat transfer in the pebble bed modular reactor core has been developed. The developed model was implemented on a personal computer using FORTRAN 95 programming language. Several important fluid flow and heat transfer parameters have been examined: including the pressure drop over the reactor core, the heat transfer coefficient, the Nusselt number and the effective thermal conductivity of the fuel pebbles. Results obtained from the simulation experiments show a uniform pressure in the radial direction for a core to fuel element diameter (D/d ratio>20 and the heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing temperature and coolant mass flow rate. The model can adequately account for the flow and heat transfer phenomenon and the loss of pressure through friction in the pebble bed type high temperature nuclear reactor.

WHAT IS THE STORY behind our smart phones? Phone Story retraces the production stages of our favorite products, showing us the dramatic working conditions behind their assembly. It seems like Apple didn’t like it: the game is now banned from the App Store.

Around the country, disabled sports are often treated like second-class siblings to their able-bodied counterparts, largely because the latter bring in prestigious tournaments and bowl games, lucrative TV contracts and national exposure for top athletes and coaches. Because disabled people are so sparsely distributed in the general population, it…

Why is soccer the sport of choice in South America, while baseball has soared to popularity in the Carribean? How did cricket become India's national sport, while China is a stronghold of table tennis? In Global Games, Maarten van Bottenburg asserts that it is the 'hidden competition' of social and

Why is soccer the sport of choice in South America, while baseball has soared to popularity in the Carribean? How did cricket become India's national sport, while China is a stronghold of table tennis? In Global Games, Maarten van Bottenburg asserts that it is the 'hidden competition' of social and

Do you know there are two kinds of football games? One is American football, the other is soccer. In China, many young people like playing soccer. It is very popular in China. But Chinese don't call it soccer, They call it football. There are eleven players in a team. And the ball is round.

This article explores the role of digital (video and computer) games in the rise of what Büscher (2014) calls "nature 2.0": new web-related media that allow users to move beyond passive voyeurism to actively "co-create" or "prosume" the images and processes promoted by organizations committed to

From Pong to PlayStation 3 and beyond, Understanding Video Games is the first general introduction to the exciting new field of video game studies. This textbook traces the history of video games, introduces the major theories used to analyze games such as ludology and narratology, reviews...... the economics of the game industry, examines the aesthetics of game design, surveys the broad range of game genres, explores player culture, and addresses the major debates surrounding the medium, from educational benefits to the effects of violence. Throughout the book, the authors ask readers to consider...... larger questions about the medium: * What defines a video game? * Who plays games? * Why do we play games? * How do games affect the player? Extensively illustrated, Understanding Video Games is an indispensable and comprehensive resource for those interested in the ways video games are reshaping...

Computer games have long been used for teaching. Current reviews lack categorization and analysis using learning models which would help instructors assess the usefulness of computer games. We divide the use of games into two classes: game playing and game development. We discuss the Input-Process-Outcome (IPO) model for the learning process when…

Computer games are no longer just for entertainment; they have also become a useful instructional strategy for acquiring knowledge. When games are used for purposes other than strict entertainment they become serious games. The goal of serious games is to enable the player to learn a task, master a strategy or develop a skill. Serious games can be…

This article defins game mechanics in relation to rules and challenges. Game mechanics are methods invoked by agents for interacting with the game world. I apply this definition to a comparative analysis of the games Rez, Every Extend Extra and Shadow of the Colossus that will show the relevance...... of a formal definition of game mechanics. Udgivelsesdato: Dec 2008...

This article defins game mechanics in relation to rules and challenges. Game mechanics are methods invoked by agents for interacting with the game world. I apply this definition to a comparative analysis of the games Rez, Every Extend Extra and Shadow of the Colossus that will show the relevance...... of a formal definition of game mechanics. Udgivelsesdato: Dec 2008...

Chemical compositions of giant planets provide a means to constrain how and where they form. Traditionally, super-stellar elemental abundances in giant planets were thought to be possible due to accretion of metal-rich solids. Such enrichments are accompanied by oxygen-rich compositions (i.e. C/O below the disc's value, assumed to be solar, C/O = 0.54). Without solid accretion, the planets are expected to have sub-solar metallicity, but high C/O ratios. This arises because the solids are dominated by oxygen-rich species, e.g. H2O and CO2, which freeze out in the disc earlier than CO, leaving the gas metal poor but carbon rich. Here we demonstrate that super-solar metallicities can be achieved by gas accretion alone when growth and radial drift of pebbles are considered in protoplanetary discs. Through this mechanism, planets may simultaneously acquire super-solar metallicities and super-solar C/O ratios. This happens because the pebbles transport volatile species inwards as they migrate through the disc, enriching the gas at snow lines where the volatiles sublimate. Furthermore, the planet's composition can be used to constrain where it formed. Since high C/H and C/O ratios cannot be created by accreting solids, it may be possible to distinguish between formation via pebble accretion and planetesimal accretion by the level of solid enrichment. Finally, we expect that Jupiter's C/O ratio should be near or above solar if its enhanced carbon abundance came through accreting metal-rich gas. Thus, Juno's measurement of Jupiter's C/O ratio should determine whether Jupiter accreted its metals from carbon-rich gas or oxygen-rich solids.

In-situ measurements of incipient motion within the mobile bed layer were conducted with state-of-the-art micro-electronic machines (MEMs). These devices were embedded in coarse-gravel sized Delrin enclosures, which have been scaled with the mobility criteria for small-scale wave flumes. The role of shear stress and pressure gradient on incipient motion of an intermittently mobile sediment bed was investigated under various oscillatory flows. Experiments conducted in a large-scale wave flume demonstrated a rocking motion before the ePebble rolled at incipient motion. The underwater video camera recorded the movement of the balls and the sensors resolved the accelerations at incipient motion. Complementary measurements with acoustic Doppler velocimeters were made to determine the hydrodynamics in the test section. The results suggest evidence of pressure gradient influenced incipient motion; in contrast with the more commonly used threshold for sediment motion based on the bed shear stress. The motion of the ePebbles correspond temporally to peaks in the pressure gradient. Calculated values of the Sleath parameter, used to quantify the effects of the pressure gradients, were comparable with field observations of pressure gradient induced plug flow by Foster et al (2006). The current configuration of the ePebble helps to identify the characteristics of incipient motion and determine orientation. These mobile nodes make a significant step towards resolving the Lagrangian dynamics of individual coarse gravel-sized particles within the mobile bed layer in the nearshore. On a larger scale, they will reduce the effects of beach erosion by improving beach nourishment design.

A forced-convection liquid-fluoride-salt loop is being constructed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This loop was designed as a versatile experimental facility capable of supporting general thermal/fluid/corrosion testing of liquid fluoride salts. The initial test configuration is designed to support the Pebble Bed Advanced High-Temperature Reactor and incorporates a test section designed to examine the heat transfer behavior of FLiNaK salt in a heated pebble bed. The loop is constructed of Inconel 600 and is capable of operating at up to 700oC. It contains a total of 72 kg of FLiNaK salt and uses an overhung impeller centrifugal sump pump that can provide FLiNaK flow at 4.5 kg/s with a head of 0.125 MPa. The test section is made of silicon carbide (SiC) and contains approximately 600 graphite spheres, 3 cm in diameter. The pebble bed is heated using a unique inductive technique. A forced induction air cooler removes the heat added to the pebble bed. The salt level within the loop is maintained by controlling an argon cover gas pressure. Salt purification is performed in batch mode by transferring the salt from the loop into a specially made nickel crucible system designed to remove oxygen, moisture and other salt impurities. Materials selection for the loop and test section material was informed by 3 months of Inconel 600 and SiC corrosion testing as well as tests examining subcomponent performance in the salt. Several SiC-to-Inconel 600 mechanical joint designs were considered before final salt and gas seals were chosen. Structural calculations of the SiC test section were performed to arrive at a satisfactory test section configuration. Several pump vendors provided potential loop pump designs; however, because of cost, the pump was designed and fabricated in-house. The pump includes a commercial rotating dry gas shaft seal to maintain loop cover gas inventory. The primary instrumentation on the loop includes temperature, pressure, and loop flow rate

Sustainability of thorium fuel in a Pebble-Bed Fluoride salt-cooled High temperature Reactor (PB-FHR) is investigated to find the feasible region of high discharge burnup and negative Flibe (2LiF-BeF2) salt Temperature Reactivity Coefficient (TRC). Dispersion fuel or pellet fuel with SiC cladding and SiC matrix is used to replace the tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) coated particle system for increasing fuel loading and decreasing excessive moderation. To analyze the neutronic characteristics,...

The PEBBED pebble bed reactor fuel management code under development at the Idaho National Laboratory is designed for rapid design and analysis of pebble bed high temperature reactors (PBRs). Embedded within the code are the THERMIX-KONVEK thermal fluid solver and the COMBINE-7 spectrum generation code for inline cross section homogenization. Because 1D symmetry can be found at each stage of core heterogeneity; spherical at TRISO and pebble levels, and cylindrical at the control rod and core levels, the 1-D transport capability of ANISN is assumed to be sufficient in most cases for generating flux solutions for cross section homogenization. Furthermore, it is fast enough to be executed during the analysis or the equilibrium core. Multi-group diffusion-based design codes such as PEBBED and VSOP are not expected to yield the accuracy and resolution of continuous energy Monte Carlo codes for evaluation of critical experiments. Nonetheless, if the preparation of multigroup cross sections can adequately capture the physics of the mixing of PBR fuel elements and leakage from the core, reasonable results may be obtained. In this paper, results of the application of PEBBED to two critical experiments (HTR Proteus and HTR-10) and associated computational models are presented. The embedded 1-D transport solver is shown to capture the double heterogeneity of the pebble fuel in unit cell calculations. Eigenvalue calculations of a whole core are more challenging, particularly if the boron concentration is uncertain. The sensitivity of major safety parameters to variations in modeling assumptions, however, is shown to be minimal. The embedded transport solver can also be used to obtain control rod worths but only with adjustment of the local spectrum. Results are compared to those of other codes as well as Core 4 of the HTR-Proteus experiment which contains partially inserted rods. They indicate the need for a reference solution to adjust the radius of the graphite in the

The well-known spatial variation of packing fraction near the outer boundary of a pebble-bed reactor core is cited. The ramifications of this variation are explored with the MCNP computer code. It is found that the variation has negligible effects on the global reactor physics parameters extracted from the MCNP calculations for use in analysis by diffusion-theory codes, but for local reaction rates the effects of the variation are naturally important. Included is some preliminary work in using first-order perturbation theory for estimating the effect of the spatial variation of packing fraction on the core eigenvalue and the fision density distribution.

A photon of wavelength lambda ~ 1 micron interacting with a dust grain of radius a_p ~ 1 mm -- in other words, a "pebble" -- undergoes scattering in the forward direction, largely within a small characteristic diffraction angle theta_s ~ lambda/a_p ~100". Though mm-size dust grains contribute negligibly to the interstellar medium's visual extinction, the signal they produce in scattered light may be detectable for variable sources. Observations of variable light scattered into small angles allows for a direct measurement of the large grain population while also yielding tomographic information of the interstellar medium's mass distribution.

We investigate the formation of icy super-Earth mass planets within a gravitationally unstable ring of solids orbiting at 250-750 AU around a 1 solar mass star. Coagulation calculations demonstrate that a system of a few large oligarchs and a swarm of pebbles generates a super-Earth within 100-200 Myr at 250 AU and within 1-2 Gyr at 750 AU. Systems with more than ten oligarchs fail to yield super-Earths over the age of the solar system. As these systems evolve, destructive collisions produce detectable debris disks with luminosities of $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-3}$ relative to the central star.

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is operating the HTR-10 pebble-bed reactor (PBR) and is in the process of building a prototype PBR plant with two modular reactors (250-MW(t) per reactor) feeding steam to a single turbine-generator. It is likely to be the first modular hightemperature reactor to be ready for commercial deployment in the world because it is a highpriority project for the PRC. The plant design features multiple modular reactors feeding steam to a single turbine generator where the number of modules determines the plant output. The design and commercialization strategy are based on PRC strengths: (1) a rapidly growing electric market that will support low-cost mass production of modular reactor units and (2) a balance of plant system based on economics of scale that uses the same mass-produced turbine-generator systems used in PRC coal plants. If successful, in addition to supplying the PRC market, this strategy could enable China to be the leading exporter of nuclear reactors to developing countries. The modular characteristics of the reactor match much of the need elsewhere in the world. PBRs have major safety advantages and a radically different fuel. The fuel, not the plant systems, is the primary safety system to prevent and mitigate the release of radionuclides under accident conditions. The fuel consists of small (6-cm) pebbles (spheres) containing coatedparticle fuel in a graphitized carbon matrix. The fuel loading per pebble is small (~9 grams of low-enriched uranium) and hundreds of thousands of pebbles are required to fuel a nuclear plant. The uranium concentration in the fuel is an order of magnitude less than in traditional nuclear fuels. These characteristics make the fuel significantly less attractive for illicit use (weapons production or dirty bomb); but, its unusual physical form may require changes in the tools used for safeguards. This report describes PBRs, what is different, and the safeguards challenges. A series of

N-person game theory provides a logical framework for analyzing contests in which there are more than two players or sets of conflicting interests-anything from a hand of poker to the tangled web of international relations. In this sequel to his Two-PersonGame Theory, Dr. Rapoport provides a fascinating and lucid introduction to the theory, geared towards readers with little mathematical background but with an appetite for rigorous analysis.Following an introduction to the necessary mathematical notation (mainly set theory), in Part I the author presents basic concepts and models, including

The opportunity which opens before manufacturers on the dynamic market, especially before those from the sector of the small and medium-sized enterprises, is associated with the use of the virtual organizations concept. The planning stage of such organizations could be based on supporting decision-making tasks using the tools and formalisms taken from the game theory. In the paper the model of the virtual manufacturing network, along with the practical example of decision-making situation as twopersongame and the decision strategies with an analysis of calculation results are presented.

In 1979, David Fabian found a complete game of two-person Chinese Checkers in 30 moves (15 by each player) [Martin Gardner, Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers, MAA, 1997]. This solution requires that the two players cooperate to generate a win as quickly as possible for one of them. We show, using computational search techniques, that no shorter game is possible. We also consider a solitaire version of Chinese Checkers where one player attempts to move her pieces across the board in as few mov...

Li{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3} and Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles are being developed as ceramic breeder for the European Helium-cooled pebble bed DEMO blanket concept. Status is given of the fabrication work, and of the properties characteristics determination. (author)

Theory of quantum games is relatively new to the literature and its applications to various areas of research are being explored. It is a novel interpretation of strategies and decisions in quantum domain. In the earlier work on quantum games considerable attention was given to the resolution of dilemmas present in corresponding classical games. Two separate quantum schemes were presented by Eisert et al. and Marinatto and Weber to resolve dilemmas in Prisoners' Dilemma and Battle of Sexes games respectively. However for the latter scheme it was argued that dilemma was not resolved. We have modified the quantization scheme of Marinatto and Weber to resolve the dilemma. We have developed a generalized quantization scheme for twoperson non-zero sum games which reduces to the existing schemes under certain conditions. Applications of this generalized quantization scheme to quantum information theory are studied. Measurement being ubiquitous in quantum mechanics can not be ignored in quantum games. With the help...

Literature and previous studies show that creative play is easy to emerge when children interact with tangible, low-tech toys and games than with digital games. This paradoxical situation is linked to the long-standing problem of end-users (or players) authoring of digital contents and systems. We...... propose a new scenario in which trading card games help making sense and re-design computer games, to support players express themselves aesthetically and in a highly creative way. Our aim is to look for a middle ground between players becoming programmers and simply editing levels. The main contributions...... are to show how card games can represent digital games, how playful play can emerge in card games and digital games, and to begin defining a new way to express game behavior without the use of universal programming languages....

... Blood > Blood Donor Community > Games > Blood Type Game Blood Type Game This feature requires version 6 or later ... many points as possible by matching the appropriate blood type of a donor to the blood type of ...

... Teachers' Questionnaire MRI Play MRI the Magnetic Miracle Game About the game In the MRI imaging technique, strong magnets and ... last will in Paris. Play the Blood Typing Game Try to save some patients and learn about ...

... and Work Teachers' Questionnaire Electrocardiogram Play the ECG Game About the game ECG is used for diagnosing heart conditions by ... last will in Paris. Play the Blood Typing Game Try to save some patients and learn about ...

Graphite is used as the moderator, fuel barrier material, and core structure in High Temperature Reactors (HTRs). However, despite its good thermal and mechanical properties below the radiation and high temperatures, it cannot avoid corrosion as a consequence of an accident of water/air ingress. Degradation of graphite as a main HTR material and the formation of dangerous CO gas is a serious problem in HTR safety. One of the several steps that can be adopted to avoid or prevent the corrosion of graphite by the water/air ingress is the application of a thin layer of silicon carbide (SiC) on the surface of the fuel element. This study investigates the effect of applying SiC coating on the fuel surfaces of pebble-bed HTR in water ingress accident from the reactivity points of view. A series of reactivity calculations were done with the Monte Carlo transport code MCNPX and continuous energy nuclear data library ENDF/B-VII at temperature of 1200 K. Three options of UO{sub 2}, PuO{sub 2}, and ThO{sub 2}/UO{sub 2} fuel kernel were considered to obtain the inter comparison of the core reactivity of pebble-bed HTR in conditions of water/air ingress accident. The calculation results indicated that the UO{sub 2}-fueled pebble-bed HTR reactivity was slightly reduced and relatively more decreased when the thickness of the SiC coating increased. The reactivity characteristic of ThO{sub 2}/UO{sub 2}-fueled pebble-bed HTR showed a similar trend to that of UO{sub 2}, but did not show reactivity peak caused by water ingress. In contrast with UO{sub 2}- and ThO{sub 2}-fueled pebble-bed HTR, although the reactivity of PuO{sub 2}-fueled pebble-bed HTR was the lowest, its characteristics showed a very high reactivity peak (0.33 Δk/k) and this introduction of positive reactivity is difficult to control. SiC coating on the surface of the plutonium fuel pebble has no significant impact. From the comparison between reactivity characteristics of uranium, thorium and plutonium cores with 0

---falls every year and any mention of mathematics in the classroom seems to frighten students away. So the question is: How do we attract new students in computing to the area of dependable software systems? Over the past several years at three universities we have experimented with the use of computer games...... as a target domain for software engineering project courses that focus on reliable systems engineering. This position paper summarizes our experiences in incorporating rigorous software engineering into courses whose projects include computer games.......In recent years, several Grand Challenges (GCs) of computing have been identified and expounded upon by various professional organizations in the U.S. and England. These GCs are typically very difficult problems that will take many hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of man-years to solve. Researchers...

We present a scheme for playing quantum repeated 2x2 games based on the Marinatto and Weber's approach to quantum games. As a potential application, we study twice repeated Prisoner's Dilemma game. We show that results not available in classical game can be obtained when the game is played in the quantum way. Before we present our idea, we comment on the previous scheme of playing quantum repeated games.

This chapter analyses the relationship between players, the game world, and the ordinary world in alternative reality games (ARGs) and location-based games (LBGs). These games use technology to create a game world in the everyday scene. The topic of this chapter is the concept of the 'magic circle......', which defines the relationship between play and the ordinary world, and how this concept relates to a new kind of game....

This chapter analyses the relationship between players, the game world, and the ordinary world in alternative reality games (ARGs) and location-based games (LBGs). These games use technology to create a game world in the everyday scene. The topic of this chapter is the concept of the 'magic circle......', which defines the relationship between play and the ordinary world, and how this concept relates to a new kind of game....

This book offers an in-depth examination of the strategic use of State sovereignty in contemporary European and international affairs and the consequences of this for authority relations in Europe and beyond. It suggests a new approach to the study of State sovereignty, proposing to understand th...... the use of sovereignty as games where States are becoming more instrumental in their claims to sovereignty and skilled in adapting it to the challenges that they face....

Highlights: • Steady and transient behaviors of the interfacial heat transfer in a fuel element. • Non-local averaging volume method for deriving the surface energy equation. • The method captures significant physical phenomena of the interfacial heat transfer. • Closure relationships are proposed in order to obtain the temperatures distribution. • The derived average equation represents an upscaling regarding the local description. - Abstract: In this paper the surface energy equation for the heat transfer process (HT) between the mixture of fuel (TRISO particles and graphite matrix) and coating in a fuel pebble is derived. The fuel pebble can be treated as a heterogeneous region (mixture of microspheres and graphite) interacting thermally with the homogeneous region (the coating or cladding). These two regions are separated by a boundary region where the properties and behavior differ from those of the adjoining regions. The methodology applied for deriving the surface energy equation is based on the classical theory on interfacial transport phenomena. The surface energy equation derived in this work is an average equation that represents an upscaling respect to the local description. The regions around the surface where changes in the physical phenomena are important are of the order of microns, in contrast with interfacial mass transfer between phases that may be several molecular diameters. The numerical analysis regarding the application of surface energy equation is presented in this work.

In collaboration with Marshall Nirenberg, we performed in vivo RNA interference (RNAi) genome-wide screening in Drosophila embryos. Pebble has been shown to be involved in Drosophila neuronal development. We have also reported that depletion of Ect2, a mammalian ortholog of Pebble, induces differentiation in NG108-15 neuronal cells. However, the precise role of Ect2 in neuronal development has yet to be studied. Here, we confirmed in PC12 pheochromocytoma cells that inhibition of Ect2 expression by RNAi stimulated neurite outgrowth, and in the mouse embryonic cortex that Ect2 was accumulated throughout the ventricular and subventricular zones with neuronal progenitor cells. Next, the effects of Ect2 depletion were studied in primary cultures of mouse embryonic cortical neurons: Loss of Ect2 did not affect the differentiation stages of neuritogenesis, the number of neurites, or axon length, while the numbers of growth cones and growth cone-like structures were increased. Taken together, our results suggest that Ect2 contributes to neuronal morphological differentiation through regulation of growth cone dynamics. PMID:22366651

Full Text Available Nuclear energy presents key challenges to be successful as a sustainable energy source. Currently, the viability of the use thorium-based fuel cycles in an innovative nuclear energy generation system is being investigated in order to solve these key challenges. In this work, the feasibility of three thorium-based fuel cycles (232Th-233U, 232Th-239Pu, and 232Th-U in a hybrid system formed by a Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Reactor (VHTR and two Pebble-Bed Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs was evaluated using parameters related to the neutronic behavior such as nuclear fuel breeding, minor actinide stockpile, the energetic contribution of each ﬁssile isotope, and the radiotoxicity of the long lived wastes. These parameters were used to compare the fuel cycles using the well-known MCNPX ver. 2.6e computational code. The results obtained confirm that the 232Th-233U fuel cycle is the best cycle for minimizing the production of plutonium isotopes and minor actinides. Moreover, the inclusion of the second stage in the ADSs demonstrated the possibility of extending the burnup cycle duration and reducing the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel from the VHTR.

An explanation of the accretion buildup of giant planet cores on rather short (~Myr) time scales remains a long-standing challenge for scenarios of planetary system formation. One of the recently proposed processes that can take part during this evolutionary stage is the convergent Type I migration of Earth-sized embryos towards the zero-torque radius, occurring at an opacity transition within the dusty-gaseous protoplanetary disk (e.g. Pierens et al. 2013). Inconveniently, simulations show that such groups of embryos do not merge easily because they often get locked in mutual mean-motion resonances and consequently form an inward-migrating convoy.We revise this possibility of merging embryos while taking into account their ongoing growth by pebble accretion. Our aim is to check whether the rapid changes of masses combined with the migration of embryos through the feeding zone can break the resonant chain and allow for the giant planet core formation.The environment of the protoplanetary disk is modeled with the 2D FARGO code (Masset 2000), which we modified in order to perform non-isothermal hydrodynamic simulations, assuming flux-limited radiative diffusion (Levermore & Pomraning 1981). The embedded massive bodies are evolved simultaneously in 3D using the hybrid Wisdom-Holman/Gauss-Radau integrator from the Rebound package (Rein & Spiegel 2015). A semi-analytic method is used to evolve the masses of embryos by pebble accretion (e.g. Levison et al. 2015).

In collaboration with Marshall Nirenberg, we performed in vivo RNA interference (RNAi) genome-wide screening in Drosophila embryos. Pebble has been shown to be involved in Drosophila neuronal development. We have also reported that depletion of Ect2, a mammalian ortholog of Pebble, induces differentiation in NG108-15 neuronal cells. However, the precise role of Ect2 in neuronal development has yet to be studied. Here, we confirmed in PC12 pheochromocytoma cells that inhibition of Ect2 expression by RNAi stimulated neurite outgrowth, and in the mouse embryonic cortex that Ect2 was accumulated throughout the ventricular and subventricular zones with neuronal progenitor cells. Next, the effects of Ect2 depletion were studied in primary cultures of mouse embryonic cortical neurons: Loss of Ect2 did not affect the differentiation stages of neuritogenesis, the number of neurites, or axon length, while the numbers of growth cones and growth cone-like structures were increased. Taken together, our results suggest that Ect2 contributes to neuronal morphological differentiation through regulation of growth cone dynamics.

The design of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) does not fit or seem appropriate to the IAEA safeguards approach under the categories of light water reactor (LWR), on-load refueled reactor (OLR, i.e. CANDU), or Other (prismatic HTGR) because the fuel is in a bulk form, rather than discrete items. Because the nuclear fuel is a collection of nuclear material inserted in tennis-ball sized spheres containing structural and moderating material and a PBMR core will contain a bulk load on the order of 500,000 spheres, it could be classified as a 'Bulk-Fuel Reactor.' Hence, the IAEA should develop unique safeguards criteria. In a multi-lab DOE study, it was found that an optimized blend of: (i) developing techniques to verify the plutonium content in spent fuel pebbles, (ii) improving burn-up computer codes for PBMR spent fuel to provide better understanding of the core and spent fuel makeup, and (iii) utilizing bulk verification techniques for PBMR spent fuel storage bins should be combined with the historic IAEA and South African approaches of containment and surveillance to verify and maintain continuity of knowledge of PBMR fuel. For all of these techniques to work the design of the reactor will need to accommodate safeguards and material accountancy measures to a far greater extent than has thus far been the case. The implementation of Safeguards-by-Design as the PBMR design progresses provides an approach to meets these safeguards and accountancy needs.

Full Text Available Due to hardware limitations at the origin of the video game industry, each new game was generally coded from the ground up. Years later, from the evolution of hardware and the need for quick game development cycles, spawned the concept of game engine. A game engine is a reusable software layer allowing the separation of common game concepts from the game assets (levels, graphics, etc.. This paper surveys fourteen different game engines relevant today, ranging from the industry-level to the newcomer-friendlier ones.

""Mind-exercising and thought-provoking.""-New ScientistIf playing games is natural for humans, analyzing games is equally natural for mathematicians. Even the simplest of games involves the fundamentals of mathematics, such as figuring out the best move or the odds of a certain chance event. This entertaining and wide-ranging guide demonstrates how simple mathematical analysis can throw unexpected light on games of every type-games of chance, games of skill, games of chance and skill, and automatic games.Just how random is a card shuffle or a throw of the dice? Is bluffing a valid poker strat

This anthology on games for rehabilitation contains a serious chapters on game methods and apps or research that compares game systems or modified games or interface devices (Wii, Eyetoy, Kinect, DDR) applied across all areas of clinical care and clinically focused research.......This anthology on games for rehabilitation contains a serious chapters on game methods and apps or research that compares game systems or modified games or interface devices (Wii, Eyetoy, Kinect, DDR) applied across all areas of clinical care and clinically focused research....

Recent reports by Department of Energy National Laboratories have discussed safeguards considerations for the low enriched uranium (LEU) fueled Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) and the need for bulk accountancy of the plutonium in used fuel. These reports fail to account effectively for the degree of plutonium dilution in the graphitized-carbon pebbles that is sufficient to meet the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) 'provisional' guidelines for termination of safeguards on 'measured discards.' The thrust of this finding is not to terminate safeguards but to limit the need for specific accountancy of plutonium in stored used fuel. While the residual uranium in the used fuel may not be judged sufficiently diluted to meet the IAEA provisional guidelines for termination of safeguards, the estimated quantities of {sup 232}U and {sup 236}U in the used fuel at the target burn-up of {approx}91 GWD/MT exceed specification limits for reprocessed uranium (ASTM C787) and will require extensive blending with either natural uranium or uranium enrichment tails to dilute the {sup 236}U content to fall within specification thus making the PBMR used fuel less desirable for commercial reprocessing and reuse than that from light water reactors. Also the PBMR specific activity of reprocessed uranium isotopic mixture and its A{sub 2} values for effective dose limit if released in a dispersible form during a transportation accident are more limiting than the equivalent values for light water reactor spent fuel at 55 GWD/MT without accounting for the presence of the principal carry-over fission product ({sup 99}Tc) and any possible plutonium contamination that may be present from attempted covert reprocessing. Thus, the potentially recoverable uranium from PBMR used fuel carries reactivity penalties and radiological penalties likely greater than those for reprocessed uranium from light water reactors. These factors impact the economics of

We show that for every cooperative game a corresponding set game can be defined, called the standard set game. Values for set games can be applied to this standard game and determine allocations for the cooperative game. On the other hand, notions for cooperative games, like the Shapley value, the

This report examines a preliminary design for a pebble bed fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor (PB-FHR) concept, assessing it from an international safeguards perspective. Safeguards features are defined, in a preliminary fashion, and suggestions are made for addressing further nuclear materials accountancy needs.

Full Text Available The measurement of intracellular ion concentration change is important for understanding the cellular mechanisms for communication. Recently developed nanosensors, (Photonic Explorers for Biomedical use with Biologically Localized Embedding PEBBLEs, have a number of advantages for measuring ions in cells over established methods using microelectrodes, unbound fluorescent dyes, or NMR. PEBBLE sensors have been shown to work in principle for measuring dynamic ion changes, but few in vivo applications have been demonstrated. We modified the protocol for the fabrication of pH sensing PEBBLEs and developed a protocol for the utilization of these sensors for the monitoring of dynamic pH changes in the endosomes of slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum (D. discoideum. Oregon Green 514-CdSe Quantum Dot PEBBLEs were used to measure real-time pH inside D. discoideum endosomes during cAMP stimulation. Endosomal pH was shown to decrease during cAMP signaling, demonstrating a movement of protons into the endosomes of D. discoideum amoebae.

Lithium titanate (Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) has attracted the attention of many researchers from a point of tritium recovery at low temperature, chemical stability, etc.. The application of small Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} sphere has been proposed in some designs of fusion blanket. On the other hand, the wet process is most advantageous as the fabrication method of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles from a point of mass production, and of reprocessing necessary for effective use of resources and reduction of radioactive wastes. In the preliminary fabrication test, density of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles was about 40%T.D.. Therefore, in this study, density improvement tests and preliminary characterization of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles by wet process were performed, noting the aging condition and sintering condition in the fabrication process of the gel-spheres. This study yielded Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles in target range of 80-85%T.D.. (author)

This paper treats serious games. Recently, one of the game genres called serious game has become popular, which has other purposes besides enjoyments like education, training and so on. Especially, learning games of the serious games seem very attractive for the age of video games so that the authors developed a mobile game for learning…

Glaciomarine diamictites (including pebbly slate, pebbly siltstone, and pebbly sandstone) in the Tibetan Plateau are widely interpreted to have been associated with the deglaciation of the Indian continent. Guiding by zircon cathodoluminescence images, we determined U-Pb ages for detrital zircons from five typical Carboniferous-Permian pebbly slate samples from the Qiangtang, Lhasa, and Tethyan Himalaya of the Tibetan Plateau. The age distributions of detrital zircons from two samples (180 analyses) from Qiwu and Gangma Tso of the Qiangtang Terrane are similar, with two main age peaks ca. 579 and ca. 816 Ma and one minor age peak ca. 2490 Ma. Two samples (177 analyses) from Jiangrang and Damxung of the Lhasa Terrane define similar age distributions with two main age peaks ca. 539 and ca. 1175 Ma. Ages of detrital zircons from one sample (110 analyses) from Kangmar of the Tethyan Himalaya display main age peaks ca. 535, ca. 949, and ca. 2490 Ma. The ca. 816-Ma detrital zircons from the Qiangtang Terrane were most likely derived from the Lesser Himalaya, and the ca. 950-Ma detrital zircons from the Tethyan Himalaya might have been sourced from the High Himalaya, Eastern Ghats Province of the Indian plate and the Rayner Province of East Antarctica. The distinctive ca. 1175-Ma age population characteristic of zircons in the pebbly slates from the Lhasa Terrane is identical to the detrital zircons from the late Paleozoic sandstones (Zhu et al., 2011a) and the inherited zircons from the Mesozoic peraluminous granites (Zhu et al., 2011b) in this terrane, but significantly absent in the pebbly slates from both the Qiangtang and the Tethyan Himalayan terranes. The ca. 1175-Ma detrital zircons in the Lhasa Terrane were most likely sourced from the Albany-Fraser-Wilkes in southwestern Australia and East Antarctica. These new data obtained in this study reveal a distinct difference of detrital zircon provenance for the coeval Carboniferous-Permian glaciomarine pebbly slates

The AVR pebble bed reactor (46 MW{sub th}) was operated 1967-88 at coolant outlet temperatures up to 990 C. A principle difference of pebble bed HTRs as AVR to conventional reactors is the continuous movement of fuel element pebbles through the core which complicates thermohydraulic, nuclear and safety estimations. Also because of a lack of other experience AVR operation is still a relevant basis for future pebble bed HTRs and thus requires careful examination. This paper deals mainly with some insufficiently published unresolved safety problems of AVR operation and of pebble bed HTRs but skips the widely known advantageous features of pebble bed HTRs. The AVR primary circuit is heavily contaminated with metallic fission products (Sr-90, Cs-137) which create problems in current dismantling. The amount of this contamination is not exactly known, but the evaluation of fission product deposition experiments indicates that the end of life contamination reached several percent of a single core inventory, which is some orders of magnitude more than precalculated and far more than in large LWRs. A major fraction of this contamination is bound on graphitic dust and thus partly mobile in depressurization accidents, which has to be considered in safety analyses of future reactors. A re-evaluation of the AVR contamination is performed here in order to quantify consequences for future HTRs (400 MW{sub th}). It leads to the conclusion that the AVR contamination was mainly caused by inadmissible high core temperatures, increasing fission product release rates, and not - as presumed in the past - by inadequate fuel quality only. The high AVR core temperatures were detected not earlier than one year before final AVR shut-down, because a pebble bed core cannot yet be equipped with instruments. The maximum core temperatures are still unknown but were more than 200 K higher than calculated. Further, azimuthal temperature differences at the active core margin of up to 200 K were

For matrix games we study how small nonzero probability must be used in optimal strategies. We show that for image win–lose–draw games (i.e. image matrix games) nonzero probabilities smaller than image are never needed. We also construct an explicit image win–lose game such that the unique optimal...

Today there is a great deal of interest in and a lot of hype about using video games in schools. Video games are a new silver bullet. Games can create good learning because they teach in powerful ways. The theory behind game-based learning is not really new, but a traditional and well-tested approach to deep and effective learning, often…

Educational games provide a fun introduction to new material and a review of mathematical algorithms. Specifically, games can be designed to assist students in developing mathematical skills as an incidental consequence of the game-playing process. The programs presented in this article are adaptations of board games or television shows that…

Game Theory is a collection of short interviews based on 5 questions presented to some of the most influential and prominent scholars in game theory. We hear their views on game theory, its aim, scope, use, the future direction of game theory and how their work fits in these respects....

... and Work Teachers' Questionnaire Malaria Play the Mosquito Game Play the Parasite Game About the games Malaria is one of the world's most common ... last will in Paris. Play the Blood Typing Game Try to save some patients and learn about ...

For matrix games we study how small nonzero probability must be used in optimal strategies. We show that for image win–lose–draw games (i.e. image matrix games) nonzero probabilities smaller than image are never needed. We also construct an explicit image win–lose game such that the unique optimal...

Today there is a great deal of interest in and a lot of hype about using video games in schools. Video games are a new silver bullet. Games can create good learning because they teach in powerful ways. The theory behind game-based learning is not really new, but a traditional and well-tested approach to deep and effective learning, often…

This anthology on games for rehabilitation contains a serious chapters on game methods and apps or research that compares game systems or modified games or interface devices (Wii, Eyetoy, Kinect, DDR) applied across all areas of clinical care and clinically focused research....

Educational games provide a fun introduction to new material and a review of mathematical algorithms. Specifically, games can be designed to assist students in developing mathematical skills as an incidental consequence of the game-playing process. The programs presented in this article are adaptations of board games or television shows that…

This publication consists of a lengthy list of environmental games (35) on the market today, their source and purchase price. Included is a description of the major changes the types of games have undergone. The first group of games resembled closely ordinary board games with success dependent on skill and/or chance rather than understanding of…

Wagner James Au is an author, consultant, and game designer, and was lead writer/mission designer for City of Eternals, a Facebook-based MMO acquired by Electronic Arts. He's written on the subject of gaming for Inside Social Games, Kotaku, and Wired. His blog New World Notes (nwn.blogs.com) covers gaming, 3D technology, and virtual culture.

Playing games of any kind, from tennis to board games, it is easy to notice that games are configured in space, often using stripes or a kind of map on a board. Some games are clearly performed within this marked border, while it may be difficult to pinpoint such a visual border in a game like hi...... to introduce a spatial model of the game performance comprising a primary and secondary game space. I will show how new game genres can profit from using this model when designing new games.......Playing games of any kind, from tennis to board games, it is easy to notice that games are configured in space, often using stripes or a kind of map on a board. Some games are clearly performed within this marked border, while it may be difficult to pinpoint such a visual border in a game like hide...... into the concept of the “magic circle” by Salen and Zimmerman (2003), as an understanding of playing games as a kind of alternate reality. When a person enters the magic circle of a game, the player suddenly finds himself in another world, where artefacts are given new meaning and where other rules apply...

Game Theory is a collection of short interviews based on 5 questions presented to some of the most influential and prominent scholars in game theory. We hear their views on game theory, its aim, scope, use, the future direction of game theory and how their work fits in these respects....

This booklet is intended to familiarize the reader with game birds typical of Colorado. Discussions in English and Spanish are presented. Discussions cover the management of game birds, individual game bird species, and endangered species of birds related to game birds. (RE)

This article presents a rationale and ways to use communication games in written form to entice deaf children to try new forms of language. It emphasizes the importance of using communicative teaching methods and considering students' communicative adequacy rather than form. Games include picture/object matching games and bingo/lotto games. (JDD)

This chapter outlines theoretical and empirical perspectives on how Game-Based Teaching can be integrated within the context of formal schooling. Initially, this is done by describing game scenarios as models for possible actions that need to be translated into curricular knowledge practices...... approaches to game-based teaching, which may or may not correspond with the pedagogical models of particular games....

Highlights: • Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles were successfully fabricated by the slurry droplet wetting method. • Boron was used as hardening agent of PVA and completely removed during sintering. • Microstructure of fabricated Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebble was exceptionally homogeneous. • Suitable process conditions for high-quality Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebble were summarized. - Abstract: Lithium metatitanate (Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) is a candidate breeding material of the Helium Cooled Ceramic Reflector (HCCR) Test Blanket Module (TBM). The breeding material is used in pebble-bed form to reduce the uncertainty of the interface thermal conductance. In this study, Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles were successfully fabricated by the slurry droplet wetting method using the cross-linking reaction between polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and boric acid. The effects of fabrication parameters on the shaping of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} green body were investigated. In addition, the basic characteristics of the sintered pebble were also evaluated. The shape of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} green bodies was affected by slurry viscosity, PVA content and boric acid content. The grain size and average crush load of sintered Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebble were controlled by the sintering time. The boron was completely removed during the final sintering process.

Full Text Available This article devoted to the search of relevant sources (primary and secondary and characteristics of computer games that allow to include them in the field of art (such as the creation of artistic games, computer graphics, active interaction with other forms of art, signs of spiritual aesthetic act, own temporality of computer games, “aesthetic illusion”, interactivity. In general, modern computer games can be attributed to commercial art and popular culture (blockbuster games and to elite forms of contemporary media art (author’s games, visionary games.

The goal of this thesis is to examine how video games are designed and to see how differ-ent game mechanics work and how to use them in the development of a game, as well as examine what are both the positive and negative effects games have on adults and children. This thesis looks at how games in general are developed in Unity, a 3D game engine which has become not only popular but a standard in the gaming industry. The thesis describes how the interface in Unity is used to quickly gene...

{sup 6}Li produces tritium by (n, {alpha}) nuclear reaction, {sup 6}Li + {sup 1}n {yields} {sup 4}He + {sup 3}H. Lithium titanate (Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) enriched with {sup 6}Li, is the most promising candidate for solid test blanket module (TBM) material for fusion reactors. Various processes are reported in literature for the fabrication of Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles for its use as TBM material. A process has been developed based on the solid state reaction of lithium-carbonate and titanium-dioxide for the synthesis of lithium titanate and pebble fabrication by extrusion, spherodization and sintering. This paper discusses the sequence of steps followed in this process and the properties obtained. Analytical grade titanium-dioxide and lithium-carbonate were taken in stoichiometric ratio and were milled to ensure thorough intimate mixing and obtain fine particles less than 45 {mu}m before its calcination at 900 {sup o}C. Following calcination, the agglomerated product was again milled to fine particles of size less than 45 {mu}m. Aqueous solution of ploy-vinyl-alcohol was added as binder prior to its feeding in the extruder. The extruded strips were spherodized and spherical pebbles were dried and sintered at 900 {sup o}C for different duration. Pebbles of desired density and porosity were obtained by suitable combination of sintering temperature and duration of sintering. Properties of the prepared pebbles were also characterized for sphericity, pore size distribution, grain size, crushing load strength, etc. The values were found to be conforming to the desired properties for use as solid breeder. The attractive feature of this process is almost no waste generation.

Highlights: • The fabricated pebbles can be densified (81% T.D.) at a low sintering temperature (850 °C). • The pebbles’ size can be controlled during the fabrication process. • Average grain size of the Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles is less than 1 μm (0.82 μm). • The molar ratio of Li to Ti of the pebbles sintered at 850 °C keeps the value of 1.97 after sintering. - Abstract: Lithium titanate (Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) ceramic pebbles were successfully fabricated by using hydrothermal and improved dry-rolling method. In the present work, ultra-fine Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} powder of high reactivity was prepared via hydrothermal reaction, using anatase titania and lithium hydroxide as raw materials. The as-synthesized Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} powder exhibits an average crystalline size as small as 100 nm. Improved dry-rolling method was employed to fabricate Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} pebbles. The green pebbles can be well-sintered (81% T.D.) at a temperature as low as 850 °C for 3 h. The pebbles have good sphericity (1.08) and narrow diameter distribution (1.0–1.2 mm) with a crush load of 35 N. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of pebbles showed that the ceramic grain size was below 1 μm and atomic emission spectrometer fitted with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES) results confirmed that atomic ratio of Li to Ti in the fabricated pebbles was 1.97.

We develop an approach of variational analysis and generalized differentiation to conditioning issues for two-person zero-sum matrix games. Our major results establish precise relationships between a certain condition measure of the smoothing first-order algorithm proposed in [A. Gilpin, J. Pe\\~na and T. Sandholm, First-order algorithm with O(ln(1/\\epsilon)) convergence for \\epsilon-equilibrium in two-person zero-sum games, in Proc. 23rd Nat. Conf. Art. Intel. (AAAI), 2008, pp. 75-82] and the exact bound of metric regularity for an associated set-valued mapping. In this way we compute the aforementioned condition measure in terms of the initial matrix game data.

Discusses the use of lightly controlled games, primarily in classes in game theory. Considers the value of such games from the viewpoint of both teaching and experimentation and discusses context; control; pros and cons of games in teaching; experimental games; and games in class, including cooperative game theory. (Author/LRW)

We revisit the deterministic graphical games of Washburn. A deterministic graphical game can be described as a simple stochastic game (a notion due to Anne Condon), except that we allow arbitrary real payoffs but disallow moves of chance. We study the complexity of solving deterministic graphical...... games and obtain an almost-linear time comparison-based algorithm for computing an equilibrium of such a game. The existence of a linear time comparison-based algorithm remains an open problem....

Full Text Available We show that standard Bayesian games cannot represent the full spectrum of belief-dependent preferences. However, by introducing a fundamental distinction between intended and actual strategies, we remove this limitation. We define Bayesian games with intentions, generalizing both Bayesian games and psychological games, and prove that Nash equilibria in psychological games correspond to a special class of equilibria as defined in our setting.

The very high temperature reactor is one of the designs currently being considered for nuclear power generation. One its variants is the pebble bed reactor in which the coolant passes through complex geometries (pores) at high Reynolds numbers. A computational fluid dynamics model with anisotropic mesh adaptivity is used to investigate coolant flow and heat transfer in such reactors. A novel method for implicitly incorporating solid boundaries based on multi-fluid flow modelling is adopted. The resulting model is able to resolve and simulate flow and heat transfer in randomly packed beds, regardless of the actual geometry, starting off with arbitrarily coarse meshes. The model is initially evaluated using an orderly stacked square channel of channel-height-to-particle diameter ratio of unity for a range of Reynolds numbers. The model is then applied to the face-centred cubical geometry. coolant flow and heat transfer patterns are investigated.

Control system is most important characteristic to be considered to control spontaneous fission reaction in the design of the nuclear reactor. Recently fuzzy based control systems have been designed and applied as control system for nuclear plants. This article emphasize on controlling the power of the high temperature pebble bed reactor (HTPBR) with the design of Fuzzy proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. A simplified reactor model with point kinetics equation and reactor heat balance equation is used. The reactivity feedback arising from power coefficient of reactivity and Xenon poisoning is also considered. The reactor is operated at various power levels by using fuzzy PID controller. The fuzzy logic eliminates the necessity of the tuning the gains of PID controller each time by extending the finite sets of the PID controller gains.

To heat greenhouses during the night it is necessary to use storage systems. Our region shows high radiation levels, even in winter, so during the day stored energy inside of a greenhouse is more than necessary. If the excess of energy is stored up, it can be used during the night when it is necessary. In this paper the performance of a storage built with plastic bottles with water inside them are studied and it is compared with a pebble bed. A model and its solution using the electric- thermal analogy are presented. The results show that it is feasible and economic to build a storage like the proposed. It is important to mention that the simulation is very simple because of the computational program used. (Author)

The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) is a First of a Kind Engineering with respect to the over 200 new innovations used in the design. The PBMR technical design is an inherited modified design from an earlier design such as the German 15 MWe AVR (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchs Reaktor) and the THTR-300 MWe Thorium High Temperature Reactor (THTR), which ran in Germany as a test and research facility for 20 years. This paper discusses the Operator Training Simulator System for the PBMR Demonstration Power Plant. The Operator Training Simulator System will be used for operator training and licensing of plant operators. Included in the discussion is an overview of the major elements of the Operator Training Simulator System, including some of the main functional areas.

Analyses were performed to determine maximum temperatures in the reactor pressure vessel for two potential Very-High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) designs during normal operation and during a depressurized conduction cooldown accident. The purpose of the analyses was to aid in the determination of appropriate reactor vessel materials for the VHTR. The designs evaluated utilized both prismatic and pebble-bed cores that generated 600 MW of thermal power. Calculations were performed for fluid outlet temperatures of 900 and 950 °C, corresponding to the expected range for the VHTR. The analyses were performed using the RELAP5-3D and PEBBED-THERMIX computer codes. Results of the calculations were compared with preliminary temperature limits derived from the ASME pressure vessel code.

We investigate the chemical composition of the solar system's giant planets atmospheres using a physical formation model with chemistry. The model incorporate disk evolution, pebbles and gas accretion, type I and II migration, simplified disk photoevaporation and solar system chemical measurements. We track the chemical compositions of the formed giant planets and compare them to the observed values. Two categories of models are studied: with and without disk chemical enrichment via photoevaporation. Predictions for the Oxygen and Nitrogen abundances, core masses, and total amount of heavy elements for the planets are made for each case. We find that in the case without disk PE, both Jupiter and Saturn will have a small residual core and comparable total amounts of heavy elements in the envelopes. We predict oxygen abundances enrichments in the same order as carbon, phosphorus and sulfur for both planets. Cometary Nitrogen abundances does not allow to easily reproduce Jupiter's nitrogen observations. In the c...

Full Text Available Very high temperature reactor (VHTR designs offer promising performance characteristics; they can provide sustainable energy, improved proliferation resistance, inherent safety, and high temperature heat supply. These designs also promise operation to high burnup and large margins to fuel failure with excellent fission product retention via the TRISO fuel design. The pebble bed reactor (PBR is a design of gas cooled high temperature reactor, candidate for Generation IV of Nuclear Energy Systems. This paper describes the features of a detailed geometric computational model for PBR whole core analysis using the MCNPX code. The validation of the model was carried out using the HTR-10 benchmark. Results were compared with experimental data and calculations of other authors. In addition, sensitivity analysis of several parameters that could have influenced the results and the accuracy of model was made.

Soil samples were collected in 2007 and 2008 along three traverses across the giant Pebble Cu-Au-Mo porphyry deposit. Within each soil pit, four subsamples were collected following recommended protocols for each of ten commonly-used and proprietary leach/digestion techniques. The significance of geochemical patterns generated by these techniques was classified by visual inspection of plots showing individual element concentration by each analytical method along the 2007 traverse. A simple matrix by element versus method, populated with a value based on the significance classification, provides a method for ranking the utility of methods and elements at this deposit. The interpretation of a complex multi-element dataset derived from multiple analytical techniques is challenging. An example of vanadium results from a single leach technique is used to illustrate the several possible interpretations of the data.

We present sensitive (rms-noises ∼4–25 μJy) and high angular resolution (∼1″–2″) 8.9 GHz (3.3 cm) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio continuum observations of 10 presumed transitional disks associated with young low-mass stars. We report the detection of radio continuum emission in 5 out of the 10 objects (RXJ1615, UX Tau A, LkCa15, RXJ1633, and SR 24s). In the case of LkCa15, the centimeter emission is extended, and has a similar morphology to that of the transitional disk observed at millimeter wavelengths with an inner depression. For these five detections, we construct the spectral energy distributions from the centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths, and find that they can be well fitted with a single (RXJ1633 and UX Tau A) or a two-component power law (LkCa15, RXJ1615, and SR 24s). For the cases where a single power law fits the data well, the centimeter emission is likely produced by optically thin dust with large grains (i.e., centimeter-size pebbles) present in the transitional disks. For the cases where a double power law fits the data, the centimeter emission might be produced by the combination of photoevaporation and a free–free jet. We conclude that RXJ1633 and UX Tau A are excellent examples of transitional disks where the structure of the emission from centimeter/millimeter pebbles can be studied. In the other cases, some other physical emitting mechanisms are also important in the centimeter regime.

Full Text Available Sustainability of thorium fuel in a Pebble-Bed Fluoride salt-cooled High temperature Reactor (PB-FHR is investigated to find the feasible region of high discharge burnup and negative Flibe (2LiF-BeF2 salt Temperature Reactivity Coefficient (TRC. Dispersion fuel or pellet fuel with SiC cladding and SiC matrix is used to replace the tristructural-isotropic (TRISO coated particle system for increasing fuel loading and decreasing excessive moderation. To analyze the neutronic characteristics, an equilibrium calculation method of thorium fuel self-sustainability is developed. We have compared two refueling schemes (mixing flow pattern and directional flow pattern and two kinds of reflector materials (SiC and graphite. This method found that the feasible region of breeding and negative Flibe TRC is between 20 vol% and 62 vol% fuel loading in the fuel. A discharge burnup could be achieved up to about 200 MWd/kgHM. The case with directional flow pattern and SiC reflector showed superior burnup characteristics but the worst radial power peak factor, while the case with mixing flow pattern and SiC reflector, which was the best tradeoff between discharge burnup and radial power peak factor, could provide burnup of 140 MWd/kgHM and about 1.4 radial power peak factor with 50 vol% dispersion fuel. In addition, Flibe salt displays good neutron properties as a coolant of quasi-fast reactors due to the strong 9Be(n,2n reaction and low neutron absorption of 6Li (even at 1000 ppm in fast spectrum. Preliminary thermal hydraulic calculation shows good safety margin. The greatest challenge of this reactor may be the decades irradiation time of the pebble fuel.

Full Text Available Simulation relations are an important tool in automata theory because they provide efficiently computable approximations to language inclusion. In recent years, extensions of ordinary simulations have been studied, for instance multi-pebble and multi-letter simulations which yield better approximations and are still polynomial-time computable. In this paper we study the limitations of approximating language inclusion in this way: we introduce a natural extension of multi-letter simulations called buffered simulations. They are based on a simulation game in which the two players share a FIFO buffer of unbounded size. We consider two variants of these buffered games called continuous and look-ahead simulation which differ in how elements can be removed from the FIFO buffer. We show that look-ahead simulation, the simpler one, is already PSPACE-hard, i.e. computationally as hard as language inclusion itself. Continuous simulation is even EXPTIME-hard. We also provide matching upper bounds for solving these games with infinite state spaces.

This book addresses two-person zero-sum finite games in which the payoffs in any situation are expressed with fuzzy numbers. The purpose of this book is to develop a suite of effective and efficient linear programming models and methods for solving matrix games with payoffs in fuzzy numbers. Divided into six chapters, it discusses the concepts of solutions of matrix games with payoffs of intervals, along with their linear programming models and methods. Furthermore, it is directly relevant to the research field of matrix games under uncertain economic management. The book offers a valuable resource for readers involved in theoretical research and practical applications from a range of different fields including game theory, operational research, management science, fuzzy mathematical programming, fuzzy mathematics, industrial engineering, business and social economics. .

for a subset of game outcomes. We analyze subjects’ eye movements while playing a series of two-person, 3x3 one-shot games in normal form. Games within each class differ by a set of descriptive features (i.e., features that can be changed without altering the game equilibrium properties). Data show...... with the highest average payoff" or "choose the strategy leading to an attractive and symmetric outcome" without (optimally) incorporating knowledge on the opponent’s behavior. Lookup patterns resulted being feature and game invariant, heterogeneous across subjects, but stable within subjects. Using a cluster...... analysis, we find correlations between eye-movements and choices; however, applying the Cognitive Hierarchy model to our data, we show that only some of the subjects present both information search patterns and choices compatible with a specific cognitive level. We also find a series of correlations...

PROTEUS is a zero-power research reactor based on a cylindrical graphite annulus with a central cylindrical cavity. The graphite annulus remains basically the same for all experimental programs, but the contents of the central cavity are changed according to the type of reactor being investigated. Through most of its service history, PROTEUS has represented light-water reactors, but from 1992 to 1996 PROTEUS was configured as a pebble-bed reactor (PBR) critical facility and designated as HTR-PROTEUS. The nomenclature was used to indicate that this series consisted of High Temperature Reactor experiments performed in the PROTEUS assembly. During this period, seventeen critical configurations were assembled and various reactor physics experiments were conducted. These experiments included measurements of criticality, differential and integral control rod and safety rod worths, kinetics, reaction rates, water ingress effects, and small sample reactivity effects (Ref. 3). HTR-PROTEUS was constructed, and the experimental program was conducted, for the purpose of providing experimental benchmark data for assessment of reactor physics computer codes. Considerable effort was devoted to benchmark calculations as a part of the HTR-PROTEUS program. References 1 and 2 provide detailed data for use in constructing models for codes to be assessed. Reference 3 is a comprehensive summary of the HTR-PROTEUS experiments and the associated benchmark program. This document draws freely from these references. Only Cores 9 and 10 are evaluated in this benchmark report due to similarities in their construction. The other core configurations of the HTR-PROTEUS program are evaluated in their respective reports as outlined in Section 1.0. Cores 9 and 10 were evaluated and determined to be acceptable benchmark experiments.

PROTEUS is a zero-power research reactor based on a cylindrical graphite annulus with a central cylindrical cavity. The graphite annulus remains basically the same for all experimental programs, but the contents of the central cavity are changed according to the type of reactor being investigated. Through most of its service history, PROTEUS has represented light-water reactors, but from 1992 to 1996 PROTEUS was configured as a pebble-bed reactor (PBR) critical facility and designated as HTR-PROTEUS. The nomenclature was used to indicate that this series consisted of High Temperature Reactor experiments performed in the PROTEUS assembly. During this period, seventeen critical configurations were assembled and various reactor physics experiments were conducted. These experiments included measurements of criticality, differential and integral control rod and safety rod worths, kinetics, reaction rates, water ingress effects, and small sample reactivity effects (Ref. 3). HTR-PROTEUS was constructed, and the experimental program was conducted, for the purpose of providing experimental benchmark data for assessment of reactor physics computer codes. Considerable effort was devoted to benchmark calculations as a part of the HTR-PROTEUS program. References 1 and 2 provide detailed data for use in constructing models for codes to be assessed. Reference 3 is a comprehensive summary of the HTR-PROTEUS experiments and the associated benchmark program. This document draws freely from these references. Only Cores 9 and 10 are evaluated in this benchmark report due to similarities in their construction. The other core configurations of the HTR-PROTEUS program are evaluated in their respective reports as outlined in Section 1.0. Cores 9 and 10 were evaluated and determined to be acceptable benchmark experiments.

The Deep-Burn (DB) concept [ ] focuses on the destruction of transuranic nuclides from used light water reactor (LWR) fuel. These transuranic nuclides are incorporated into tri-isotopic (TRISO) coated fuel particles and used in gas-cooled reactors with the aim of a fractional fuel burnup of 60 to 70% in fissions per initial metal atom (FIMA). This high performance is expected through the use of multiple recirculation passes of the fuel in pebble form without any physical or chemical changes between passes. In particular, the concept does not call for reprocessing of the fuel between passes. In principle, the DB pebble bed concept employs the same reactor designs as the presently envisioned low-enriched uranium core designs, such as the 400 MWth Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR-400) [ ]. Although it has been shown in the previous Fiscal Year (FY) (2009) that a PuO2 fueled pebble bed reactor concept is viable, achieving a high fuel burnup while remaining within safety-imposed prescribed operational limits for fuel temperature, power peaking, and temperature reactivity feedback coefficients for the entire temperature range, is challenging. The presence of the isotopes 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu that have resonances in the thermal energy range significantly modifies the neutron thermal energy spectrum as compared to a standard, UO2-fueled core. Therefore, the DB pebble bed core exhibits a relatively hard neutron energy spectrum. However, regions within the pebble bed that are near the graphite reflectors experience a locally softer spectrum. This can lead to power and temperature peaking in these regions. Furthermore, a shift of the thermal energy spectrum with increasing temperature can lead to increased absorption in the resonances of the fissile Pu isotopes. This can lead to a positive temperature reactivity coefficient for the graphite moderator under certain operating conditions. Regarding the coated particle performance, the FY 2009 investigations showed that no

How to design useful digital game-based learning is a topic worthy of discussion. Past research focused on specific game genres design, but it is difficult to use when the target game genre differs from the default genres used in the research. This study presents macrodesign concepts that elucidates 11 crucial game-design factors, including game goals, game mechanism, game fantasy, game value, interaction, freedom, narrative, sensation, challenges, sociality, and mystery. We clearly define ea...

In recent years, several Grand Challenges (GCs) of computing have been identified and expounded upon by various professional organizations in the U.S. and England. These GCs are typically very difficult problems that will take many hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of man-years to solve. Researchers...... involved in identifying these problems are not going to solve them. That task will fall to our students, and our students' students. Unfortunately for GC6, the Grand Challenge focusing on Dependable Systems Evolution, interest in formal methods---both by students and within computer science faculties......---falls every year and any mention of mathematics in the classroom seems to frighten students away. So the question is: How do we attract new students in computing to the area of dependable software systems? Over the past several years at three universities we have experimented with the use of computer games...

What. Urban Games are games that take place in the real-world of the players, and which make use of the properties of the city. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are urban games that pretend to be conspiracy theories that really are happening in the life of the players. The games are experienced...... through events, challenges and collaborative puzzle solving and may evolve through the engagement of the players. This new design method, Aulaia, addresses the design of urban games in the form of ARGs. Along with the design method several examples from real world ARGs are given. Why. ARGs and other urban...... games are usually large and complicated undertakings, which require many coordinated activities in order to make successful games. This design method secures a structured approach, not only for the design of the game, but also for the launch and running. ARGs develop along with the players and require...

The basic ideas of game theory were originated from the problems of maximum and minimum given by J.Yon Neumann in 1928. Later, wars accelerated the study of game theory, there are many developments that contributed to the advancement of game theory, many problems of optimum appeared in economic development process. Scientists applied mathematic methods to studying game theory to make the theory more profound and perfect. The axiomatic structure of game theory was nearly complete in 1944. The path of the development of game theory started from finite to infinite, from two players to many players, from expressing gains with quantity to showing the ending of game theory with abstract result, and from certainty problems to random problems. Thus development of game theory is closely related to the economic development. In recent years, the research on the non-differentiability of Shapley value posed by Belgian Mertens is one of the advanced studies in game theory.

Tons of Li2TiO3 tritium breeding pebbles will be filled in the blanket for obtaining tritium fuel. In this work, isothermal sintering was carried out to study the grain growth behavior of the Li2TiO3 pebbles fabricated by agarose method. The grain growth exponent (n) and the activation energy (Q) calculated by the phenomenological kinetic equation were 2 and 435.65 kJ/mol, respectively. The grain growth was controlled by vapor transport (p = 2S/r). In addition, effects of porosity and grain-size on the strength of Li2TiO3 pebbles were investigated. The strength was affected by the grain size and the porosity of Li2TiO3 pebbles, and high strength (about 72 MPa) depended partly on achieving the optimum balance between the porosity (about 10%) and grain size (about 2 μm).

When designing games with learning purposes used in a classroom, there often occur problems about the lack of learning content or the lack of game contents. Other disadvantages of existing educational games are the difficulty to provide a continual balance between the challenge and the pupils...... games, and to integrate teachers, pupils and game designers needs and requirements. To set up these design principles for educational games we have used a holistic perspective. This means that the design principles must be seen in coherence within the social and physical environment. The design...

Digital games are still to a great degree considered a medium mainly for young boys. However, available statistics on Western media use show that this is far from the case. Increasingly, people of all ages and genders play digital games, also older adults in their early 60s and beyond. The aim...... of the book is to examine, analyse and discuss: 1) What older adults do with digital games and what meanings the use of digital games take on in the everyday life of older adults; 2) How older adults are perceived by society in relation to digital games; 3) How play and games can be used both...

Cinematographic games are a rising genre in the computer games industry and an increasing number of titles published include some aspects of cinematography in the gameplay or the storytelling. At present state, camera handling in computer games is managed primarily through custom scripts and anim......Cinematographic games are a rising genre in the computer games industry and an increasing number of titles published include some aspects of cinematography in the gameplay or the storytelling. At present state, camera handling in computer games is managed primarily through custom scripts...

Contemporary users (players, consumers) of digital games have thousands of products to choose from, which makes nding games that t their interests challenging. Towards addressing this challenge, in this paper two dierent formulations of Archetypal Analysis for Top-L recommender tasks using implicit...... feedback are presented: factor- and neighborhood-oriented models. These form the rst application of rec- ommender systems to digital games. Both models are tested on a dataset of 500,000 users of the game distribution platform Steam, covering game ownership and playtime data across more than 3000 games...

Do you remember landmark games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Asteroids? Well, here's an exciting opportunity to build and/or port these games to one of the hottest mobile and netbooks platforms today: Google's Android. Pro Android Games teaches you how to build cool games like Space Blaster and the classic Asteroids from scratch on the latest Android platform. This book also shows you how to port other classic freeware/shareware games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D from C using the Java Native Interface (JNI) for Android. This book is all about a unique perspective in Android game development:

top games). Therefore, we propose here a middle ground between digital and traditional table top games, so to grant children more freedom to express themselves, articulate their understanding and difficulties individually or socially; this approach is an alternative to the current trend of associating...... programming with digital creativity. In our preliminary study we transposed a digital game into a card game and observed students while shifting between playing and design thinking. Results from this study suggest that the notion of altering a digital game through a card-based transposition of the same game...

Full Text Available Can video game design be compared to more formalized practices of scientific research or speculation within game studies? And, by virtue of an intellectual leap that in itself calls for discussion, can video games be considered as an efficient vehicle for the presentation of certain kinds of knowledge, in the same way in which papers, conference presentations, and books are? What Ratto defines as critical making (2011, the practice of producing artifacts of different sorts in order to supplement and extend critical reflection, may apply to video games as well. Forms of research through design (Zimmerman, Forlizzi and Evenson, 2007, of carpentry (Bogost, 2012, and speculative design (Dunne and Raby, 2013 have been analyzed, discussed, and maybe most importantly, put into practice in different fields of cultural and scientific production. To address this gap and to map the current (and future state of self-reflexive games, we asked both researchers and designers to imagine an application of these concepts to video games. Paraphrasing Zimmerman, Forlizzi and Evenson, what does research through game design might mean? What epistemological insights can we derive from the act of designing, making and playing video games?

In the first generation fusion reactors the fusion of deuterium (D) and tritium (T) is considered to produce energy to meet the future energy demand. Deuterium is available in nature whereas, tritium is not. Lithium-6 (Li6) isotope has the ability to produce tritium in the n, α nuclear reaction with neutrons. Thus lithium-based ceramics enriched by Li6 isotope are considered for the tritium generation for its use in future fusion reactors. Lithium titanate is one such Li-based ceramic material being considered for its some attractive properties viz., high thermal and chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, and low tritium solubility. It is reported in the literature, that the burn up of these pebbles in the fusion reactor will be limited to only 15-17 atomic percentage. At the end of life, the pebbles will contain more than 45% unused Li6 isotope. Due to the high cost of enriched Li6 and the waste disposal considerations, it is necessary to recover the unused Li from the spent lithium titanate pebbles. Till date, only the feasibilities of different processes are reported, but no process details are available. Experiments were carried out for the recovery of Li from simulated Li2TiO3 pebbles and to reuse of lithium in lithium titanate pebble fabrication. The details of the experiments and results are discussed in this paper. Simulated lithium titanate (Li2TiO3) pebbles. The objective of the study is to develop a process which can be used to recover lithium value form the spent Li2TiO3 pebbles from future fusion reactor. The Li2TiO3 pebbles used in the study were synthesized and fabricated by the solid state reaction process developed by Mandal et al. described in details somewhere else [1,2]. Spherical Li2TiO3 pebbles of size 1.0 mm were used and the properties of the Li2TiO3 pebbles used in the study are shown in Table 1. Hydrochloric acid (HCl), of 99.8% purity, purchased from Merck and Loba Chemicals, Mumbai, India. To leach lithium from Li2TiO3

Lithium metatitanate (β-Li2TiO3) pebbles were fabricated via the modified indirect wet chemistry method. Effect of varied additives, as polyvinyl alcohol, glycerol, and agar on the properties evolution was investigated. The highest density is obtained by adding 2 wt% (weight percent) polyvinyl alcohol, 3 wt% glycerol, and 3 wt% agar, respectively. β-Li2TiO3 pebbles with relative sintered density of 92.4%T.D. (Theoretical Density), the ratio of the intensity of diffraction peak (002) to that of (-133) of about 2.93, about 1.58 mm in diameter, a better sphericity of 1.02, the particle size of 5-6 μm, and the well-developed surface layered structure are successfully fabricated with 3 wt% glycerol. Glycerol is beneficial to improving the properties by other fabrication method as well.

From 2007 through 2010, scientists in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have been conducting exploration-oriented geochemical and geophysical studies in the region surrounding the giant Pebble porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit in southwestern Alaska. The Cretaceous Pebble deposit is concealed under tundra, glacial till, and Tertiary cover rocks, and is undisturbed except for numerous exploration drill holes. These USGS studies are part of a nation-wide research project on evaluating and detecting concealed mineral resources. This report focuses on exploration geochemistry and comprises illustrations and associated notes that were presented as a case study in a workshop on this topic. The workshop, organized by L.G. Closs and R. Glanzman, is called 'Geochemistry in Mineral Exploration and Development,' presented by the Society of Economic Geologists at a technical conference entitled 'The Challenge of Finding New Mineral Resources: Global Metallogeny, Integrative Exploration and New Discoveries,' held at Keystone, Colorado, October 2-5, 2010.

In the summer of 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began an exploration geochemical research study over the Pebble porphyry copper-gold-molydenum (Cu-Au-Mo) deposit in southwest Alaska. The Pebble deposit is extremely large and is almost entirely concealed by tundra, glacial deposits, and post-Cretaceous volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. The deposit is presently being explored by Northern Dynasty Minerals, Ltd., and Anglo-American LLC. The USGS undertakes unbiased, broad-scale mineral resource assessments of government lands to provide Congress and citizens with information on national mineral endowment. Research on known deposits is also done to refine and better constrain methods and deposit models for the mineral resource assessments. The Pebble deposit was chosen for this study because it is concealed by surficial cover rocks, it is relatively undisturbed (except for exploration company drill holes), it is a large mineral system, and it is fairly well constrained at depth by the drill hole geology and geochemistry. The goals of the USGS study are (1) to determine whether the concealed deposit can be detected with surface samples, (2) to better understand the processes of metal migration from the deposit to the surface, and (3) to test and develop methods for assessing mineral resources in similar concealed terrains. This report presents analytical results for geochemical samples collected in 2007 from the Pebble deposit and surrounding environs. The analytical data are presented digitally both as an integrated Microsoft 2003 Access? database and as Microsoft 2003 Excel? files. The Pebble deposit is located in southwestern Alaska on state lands about 30 km (18 mi) northwest of the village of Illiamna and 320 km (200 mi) southwest of Anchorage (fig. 1). Elevations in the Pebble area range from 287 m (940 ft) at Frying Pan Lake just south of the deposit to 1146 m (3760 ft) on Kaskanak Mountain about 5 km (5 mi) to the west. The deposit is in an area of

Shapley's discounted stochastic games, Everett's recursive games and Gillette's undiscounted stochastic games are classical models of game theory describing two-player zero-sum games of potentially infinite duration. We describe algorithms for exactly solving these games.......Shapley's discounted stochastic games, Everett's recursive games and Gillette's undiscounted stochastic games are classical models of game theory describing two-player zero-sum games of potentially infinite duration. We describe algorithms for exactly solving these games....

In this paper we argue that there is a need for digital games that could be easy to alter by young learners. Unfortunately it was found that digital games do not enable children to express their creativity at full, in contrast with low-fidelity prototypes and non-digital toys (such as card or table...... top games). Therefore, we propose here a middle ground between digital and traditional table top games, so to grant children more freedom to express themselves, articulate their understanding and difficulties individually or socially; this approach is an alternative to the current trend of associating...... programming with digital creativity. In our preliminary study we transposed a digital game into a card game and observed students while shifting between playing and design thinking. Results from this study suggest that the notion of altering a digital game through a card-based transposition of the same game...

If you wish to create and publish fun iOS games using Swift, then this book is for you. You should be familiar with basic programming concepts. However, no prior game development or Apple ecosystem experience is required.

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — Point locations of big game reporting stations. Big game reporting stations are places where hunters can legally report harvested deer, bear, or turkey. These are...

... Questionnaire Tuberculosis Play Tuberculosis Experiments & Discoveries About the game Discover and experience some of the classic methods ... last will in Paris. Play the Blood Typing Game Try to save some patients and learn about ...

Games and art have intersected at least since the early twentieth century, as can be seen in the Surrealists’ use of Exquisite Corpse and other games, Duchamp’s obsession with Chess, and Fluxus event scores and boxes—to name just a few examples. Over the past fifteen years, the synthesis of art...... and games has clouded for both artists and gamemakers. Contemporary art has drawn on the tool set of videogames, but has not considered them a cultural form with its own conceptual, formal, and experiential affordances. For their part, game developers and players focus on the innate properties of games...... and the experiences they provide, giving little attention to what it means to create and evaluate fine art. In Works of Game, John Sharp bridges this gap, offering a formal aesthetics of games that encompasses the commonalities and the differences between games and art. Sharp describes three communities of practice...

In this paper we argue that there is a need for digital games that could be easy to alter by young learners. Unfortunately it was found that digital games do not enable children to express their creativity at full, in contrast with low-fidelity prototypes and non-digital toys (such as card or table...... top games). Therefore, we propose here a middle ground between digital and traditional table top games, so to grant children more freedom to express themselves, articulate their understanding and difficulties individually or socially; this approach is an alternative to the current trend of associating...... programming with digital creativity. In our preliminary study we transposed a digital game into a card game and observed students while shifting between playing and design thinking. Results from this study suggest that the notion of altering a digital game through a card-based transposition of the same game...

In this Information system age many organizations consider information system as their weapon to compete or gain competitive advantage or give the best services for non profit organizations. Game Information System as combining Information System and game is breakthrough to achieve organizationsâ performance. The Game Information System will run the Information System with game and how game can be implemented to run the Information System. Game is not only for fun and entertainment, but will be a challenge to combine fun and entertainment with Information System. The Challenge to run the information system with entertainment, deliver the entertainment with information system all at once. Game information system can be implemented in many sectors as like the information system itself but in differenceâs view. A view of game which people can joy and happy and do their transaction as a fun things.

Full Text Available James Lovelock’s vision of Earth as a living cybernetic system is popular again. The surprising new preacher of Gaia is Bruno Latour. He uses the concept to refer to a holistic understanding of Earth, in which mankind is situated as integral part. Gaia becomes the catalyst and fundament for his philosophical attempt to design a new believe-system in the time of ecological crisis. But the concept of Gaia is characterised by a tension between the idea of a powerful but indifferent nature and a grandiose vision of total control over it. This tension reveals itself to be deeply rooted in cybernetic thought. It is not only apparent in Lovelock’s own writing, but also in simulation programs based on the Gaia hypothesis such as the Daisyworld model and the computer game “SimEarth: The Living Planet” (1991. The article will distinguish Lovelock’s from Latour’s concept of Gaia and relate them to first- and second order cybernetics as well as to two different approaches to computer simulation: system dynamics and cellular automata.

EXOTIC-7 was the first in-pile test with {sup 6}Li-enriched (50%) lithium orthosilicate (Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4}) pebbles and with DEMO representative Li-burnup. Post irradiation examinations of the Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} have been performed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK), mainly to investigate the tritium release kinetics as well as the effect of Li-burnup and/or contact with beryllium during irradiation. The release rate of Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} from pure Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} bed of capsule 28.1-1 is characterized by a broad main peak at about 400degC and by a smaller peak at about 800degC, and that from the mixed beds of capsule 28.2 and 26.2-1 shows again these two peaks, but most of the tritium is now released from the 800degC peak. This shift of release from low to high temperature may be due to the higher Li-burnup and/or due to contact with Be during irradiation. Due to the very difficult interpretation of the in-situ tritium release data, residence times have been estimated on the basis of the out-of-pile tests. The residence time for Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} from caps. 28.1-1 irradiated at 10% Li-burnup agrees quite well with that of the same material irradiated at Li-burnup lower than 3% in the EXOTIC-6 experiment. In spite of the observed shift in the release peaks from low to high temperature, also the residence time for Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} from caps. 26.2-1 irradiated at 13% Li-burnup agrees quite well with the data from EXOTIC-6 experiment. On the other hand, the residence time for Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} from caps. 28.2 (Li-burnup 18%) is about a factor 1.7-3.8 higher than that for caps. 26.2-1. Based on these data on can conclude that up to 13% Li-burnup neither the contact with beryllium nor the Li-burnup have a detrimental effect on the tritium release of Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} pebbles, but at 18% Li-burnup the residence time is increased by about a factor three. (J.P.N.)

This thesis describes educational games and two different technologies used to develop games. It describes the development process and use of educational games in general, also it describes what kind of educational games we know. It Presents HTML5 and Flash technologies, and some programming languages and programs that this two technologies are using. It desribes differences in the way of the development process and display of the final product in both technologies and it describes the adv...

Potential games, originally introduced in the early 1990's by Lloyd Shapley, the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Economics, and his colleague Dov Monderer, are a very important class of models in game theory. They have special properties such as the existence of Nash equilibria in pure strategies. This note introduces graphical versions of potential games. Special cases of graphical potential games have already found applicability in many areas of science and engineering beyond economics, including ar...

The book describes the world's first successful experiment in fully automated board game design. Evolutionary methods were used to derive new rule sets within a custom game description language, and self-play trials used to estimate each derived game's potential to interest human players. The end result is a number of new and interesting games, one of which has proved popular and gone on to be commercially published.

This thesis describes educational games and two different technologies used to develop games. It describes the development process and use of educational games in general, also it describes what kind of educational games we know. It Presents HTML5 and Flash technologies, and some programming languages and programs that this two technologies are using. It desribes differences in the way of the development process and display of the final product in both technologies and it describes the adv...

Tritium release behavior from the Li4SiO4 pebbles with high densities (∼96%TD) and large grain sizes (100-300 μm) fabricated by a melt-based method (the M-OSi sample) was investigated through out-of-pile experiments. Another batch of Li4SiO4 pebbles with relatively low densities (∼86%TD) and small grain sizes (10-50 μm) fabricated by a wet method (the W-OSi sample) was used for comparative study. Comparing with the W-OSi sample, the temperature of tritium release from the M-OSi sample was found much higher. Moreover, the fraction of tritium gas released from the M-OSi sample was much larger, especially under helium purge gas. The big differences between the characteristics of tritium release from the two batches of samples can be explained reasonably by the effect of grain size, implying that the grain size played an important role in the tritium release behavior. This study can provide a guideline for optimizing the fabrication process of Li4SiO4 pebbles.

High temperature gas-cooled reactors(HTGR) have been reviewed as potential sources for future energy needs, particularly for a hydrogen production. Among the HTGRs, the pebble bed reactor(PBR) and a prismatic modular reactor(PMR) are considered as the nuclear heat source in Korea's nuclear hydrogen development and demonstration project. PBR uses coated fuel particles embedded in spherical graphite fuel pebbles. The fuel pebbles flow down through the core during an operation. PMR uses graphite fuel blocks which contain cylindrical fuel compacts consisting of the fuel particles. The fuel blocks also contain coolant passages and locations for absorber and control material. The maximum fuel temperature in the core hot spot is one of the important design parameters for both a PBR and a PMR. The objective of this study is to predict the hot-spot fuel temperature distributions in a PBR and a PMR at a steady state. The computational fluid dynamics(CFD) code, CFX-10 is used to perform the three-dimensional analysis. The latest design data was used here based on the reference reactor designs, PBMR400 and GTMHR60.

In the summer of 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began an exploration geochemical research study over the Pebble porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposit. This report presents the analytical data collected in 2008. The Pebble deposit is world class in size, and is almost entirely concealed by tundra, glacial deposits, and post-Cretaceous volcanic rocks. The Pebble deposit was chosen for this study because it is concealed by surficial cover rocks, is relatively undisturbed (except for exploration company drill holes), is a large mineral system, and is fairly well-constrained at depth by the drill hole geology and geochemistry. The goals of this study are to 1) determine whether the concealed deposit can be detected with surface samples, 2) better understand the processes of metal migration from the deposit to the surface, and 3) test and develop methods for assessing mineral resources in similar concealed terrains. The analytical data are presented as an integrated Microsoft Access 2003 database and as separate Excel files.

is the application of on-line games in order to provide training for decision makers and in order to generate overview over the implications of platform decisions. However, games have to be placed in a context with other methods and we argue that a mixture of games, workshops, and simulations can provide improved...

We introduce Video Design Games to train educators in teaching design. The Video Design Game is a workshop format consisting of three rounds in which participants observe, reflect and generalize based on video snippets from their own practice. The paper reports on a Video Design Game workshop...

In this paper big boss interval games are introduced and various characterizations are given. The structure of the core of a big boss interval game is explicitly described and plays an important role relative to interval-type bi-monotonic allocation schemes for such games. Specifically, each element

This paper introduces the notion of protective equilibrium in the context of fin ite games in strategic form.It shows that for matrix games the set of protective equilibria equals the set of proper equilibria.Moreover, in the context of bima trix games, the notion of protective behaviour is used as

When interacting with computer games, users are forced to follow the rules of the game in return of the excitement, joy, fun, or other pursued experiences. In this paper, we investigate how games achieve these experiences in the perspective of Actor Network Theory (ANT). Based on a qualitative st...

The introduction of new technologies in society has created a need for interactive contents that can make the most of the potential that technological advances offer. Serious games as educational games are such content: they can be defined as video games or interactive applications whose main purpose is to provide not only entertainment but also…

The idea of learning through games isn't necessarily new. In fact, over the past decade, researchers have been espousing the use of games to help both children and adults learn. But it's only been recently that games have begun to make serious inroads into classrooms. As the world becomes more and more driven by mobile apps and tablet…

game into a trading card game, to investigate the potential of the approach: as expected, students participating to the study shifted between playing and design thinking. The card-based model introduced in this paper works full circle: it enables learners to go from digital games to cards and back...

Energy parity games are infinite two-player turn-based games played on weighted graphs. The objective of the game combines a (qualitative) parity condition with the (quantitative) requirement that the sum of the weights (i.e., the level of energy in the game) must remain positive. Beside their own interest in the design and synthesis of resource-constrained omega-regular specifications, energy parity games provide one of the simplest model of games with combined qualitative and quantitative objectives. Our main results are as follows: (a) exponential memory is sufficient and may be necessary for winning strategies in energy parity games; (b) the problem of deciding the winner in energy parity games can be solved in NP [Formula: see text] coNP; and (c) we give an algorithm to solve energy parity by reduction to energy games. We also show that the problem of deciding the winner in energy parity games is logspace-equivalent to the problem of deciding the winner in mean-payoff parity games, which can thus be solved in NP [Formula: see text] coNP. As a consequence we also obtain a conceptually simple algorithm to solve mean-payoff parity games.

Gaming (the use of formal games for specific academic purposes) is a method for teaching formal thinking processes that is particularly suited to the gifted student. Various games can be used to develop deductive reasoning, the concept of subsets, inductive reasoning, and attention to detail. (Author/SW)

If you want to create your own game, but don't know where to start, this is the book for you. Whether you've used GameSalad before, or have prior game development experience or not you are sure to learn! Imaging software experience, such as Photoshop, is good to have, but art and assets are provided in the book's resources.

In this paper we consider the problem of making design of digital games accessible to primary school children and their teachers, and we argue for the need of digital games that are easy to alter by young learners. We know from previous research projects that digital games do not enable children ...

Provides rationale for and description of an acid rain game (designed for two players), a problem-solving model for elementary students. Although complete instructions are provided, including a copy of the game board, the game is also available for Apple II microcomputers. Information for the computer program is available from the author.…

The paper first outlines a differentiation of play/game-motivations that include "negative" attitudes against the play/game itself like cheating or spoilsporting. This problem is of particular importance in concern of learning games because they are not "played" for themselves--at least in the first place--but due to an…

is the application of on-line games in order to provide training for decision makers and in order to generate overview over the implications of platform decisions. However, games have to be placed in a context with other methods and we argue that a mixture of games, workshops, and simulations can provide improved...

We introduce Video Design Games to train educators in teaching design. The Video Design Game is a workshop format consisting of three rounds in which participants observe, reflect and generalize based on video snippets from their own practice. The paper reports on a Video Design Game workshop...

Player responses to a brief survey gauging their understanding of content after playing an educational game, "Virulent," are presented. Response accuracy was higher for picture-based questions than text-based questions, despite the presentation of both within the game. Given that games may present educational content in multiple ways…

Game theory is the mathematical study of strategy and conflict. It has wide applications in economics, political science, sociology, and, to some extent, in philosophy. Where rational choice theory or decision theory is concerned with individual agents facing games against nature, game theory deals

Full Text Available Recent research on the subject shows that students spend more time on computer games than other activities such as reading book or watching TV. It is possible that this time-consuming activity can become much more effective by educator-game sector cooperation. Which type of game students prefer mostly; how the educational content can be articulated the games without diminishing the playability and enjoyableness of it; and the impact of the competition in the games on process and students are just several titles examined in the studies. This scope presents the types of computer game, qualities of educational games, and educational games designs which are recommended for developing educational games. It also presents a set of knowledge about the importance of educational games in mathematics and physic education, and some studies on this field. In the scope, some strategies, about educational game development process, are recommended educators and software developers in the sector who intend to develop educational games based on the literature.

Standard game-theoretic solution concepts do not guarantee meaningful commu- nication in cheap-talk games. In this paper, we define a solution concept which guarantees communication for a large class of games by designing a behavior pro- tocol which the receiver uses to judge messages sent by the

Provides rationale for and description of an acid rain game (designed for two players), a problem-solving model for elementary students. Although complete instructions are provided, including a copy of the game board, the game is also available for Apple II microcomputers. Information for the computer program is available from the author.…

This paper describes in detail the paper-and-pencil POE (Pelham Odd 'R Even) game, in which units of space are the allocated resources. The game is designed to provide an introduction to the rule structure common to the games of EQUATIONS, WFF 'N PROOF, and ON-SENTS & NON-SENTS. Techniques of playing POE, including goals, solutions, moves, scoring…

propose a new scenario in which trading card games help making sense and re-design computer games, to support players express themselves aesthetically and in a highly creative way. Our aim is to look for a middle ground between players becoming programmers and simply editing levels. The main contributions...

Full Text Available The class of “stable games”, introduced by Hofbauer and Sandholm in 2009, has the attractive property of admitting global convergence to equilibria under many evolutionary dynamics. We show that stable games can be identified as a special case of the feedback-system-theoretic notion of a “passive” dynamical system. Motivated by this observation, we develop a notion of passivity for evolutionary dynamics that complements the definition of the class of stable games. Since interconnections of passive dynamical systems exhibit stable behavior, we can make conclusions about passive evolutionary dynamics coupled with stable games. We show how established evolutionary dynamics qualify as passive dynamical systems. Moreover, we exploit the flexibility of the definition of passive dynamical systems to analyze generalizations of stable games and evolutionary dynamics that include forecasting heuristics as well as certain games with memory.

Full Text Available The Very High Temperature Reactor Methods Development group at the Idaho National Laboratory identified the need for a defensible and systematic uncertainty and sensitivity approach in 2009. This paper summarizes the results of an uncertainty and sensitivity quantification investigation performed with the SUSA code, utilizing the International Atomic Energy Agency CRP 5 Pebble Bed Modular Reactor benchmark and the INL code suite PEBBED-THERMIX. Eight model input parameters were selected for inclusion in this study, and after the input parameters variations and probability density functions were specified, a total of 800 steady state and depressurized loss of forced cooling (DLOFC transient PEBBED-THERMIX calculations were performed. The six data sets were statistically analyzed to determine the 5% and 95% DLOFC peak fuel temperature tolerance intervals with 95% confidence levels. It was found that the uncertainties in the decay heat and graphite thermal conductivities were the most significant contributors to the propagated DLOFC peak fuel temperature uncertainty. No significant differences were observed between the results of Simple Random Sampling (SRS or Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS data sets, and use of uniform or normal input parameter distributions also did not lead to any significant differences between these data sets.

We present sensitive (rms-noises $\\sim$ 4 -- 25 $\\mu$Jy) and high angular resolution ($\\sim$1--2$"$) 8.9 GHz (3.3 cm) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) radio continuum observations of 10 presumed transitional disks associated with young low-mass stars. We report the detection of radio continuum emission in 5 out of the 10 objects (RXJ1615, UX Tau A, LkCa15, RXJ1633, and SR24s). In the case of LkCa15, the centimeter emission is extended, and has a similar morphology to that of the transitional disk observed at mm wavelengths with an inner depression. For these five detections, we construct the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) from the centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths, and find that they can be well fitted with a single (RXJ 1633 and UX Tau A) or a two component power-law (LkCa 15, RXJ 1615, and SR24s). For the cases where a single power-law fits well the data, the centimeter emission is likely produced by optically thin dust with large grains i.e. centimeter-size pebbles) present in the transit...

Stepped-anneal helium release measurements on two sets of fifteen beryllium pebbles irradiated in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) at Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-w), are reported. The purpose of the measurements was to determine the helium release characteristics of the beryllium using larger sample sizes and longer anneal times relative to earlier measurements. Sequential helium analyses were conducted over a narrower temperature range from approximately 800 C to 1100 C in 100 C increments, but with longer anneal time periods. To allow for overnight and unattended operation, a temperature controller and associated circuitry were added to the experimental setup. Observed helium release was nonlinear with time at each temperature interval, with each step being generally characterized by an initial release rate followed by a slowing of the rate over time. Sample Be-C03 showed a leveling off in the helium release after approximately 3 hours at a temperature of 890 C. Sample Be-D03, on the other hand, showed a leveling off only after {approximately}12 to 24 hours at a temperature of 1100 C. This trend is consistent with that observed in earlier measurements on single microspheres from the same two beryllium lots. None of the lower temperature steps showed any leveling off of the helium release. Relative to the total helium concentrations measured earlier, the total helium releases observed here represent approximately 80% and 92% of the estimated total helium in the C03 and D03 samples, respectively.

Study of the problem of the rise of the center of mass (COM) of spinning objects is said to have begun in the late nineteenth century. These early mathematical treatments aimed to explain the motion of the newly invented and patented ``tippe top.'' This semi-spheroidal top will invert when spun on a smooth surface while raising its COM. Because of the importance of friction in their dynamics, such non-holonomic systems are not readily amenable to analytic treatment, or of intuitive understanding. In notes written in 1844 - before the invention of the tippe top - Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) discussed the problem of the rising COM of spinning objects. He experimented with both oblate and prolate ellipsoidal pebbles, but did not publish a complete theoretical treatment of the problem. J. H. Jellett, in his 1872 book ``Theory of Friction,'' provided a partial account of the related problem of the rise of the COM for an egg-shaped (ovoid) object, making use of a new (adiabatic) invariant of the motion that he devised. Naturally occurring prolate ellipsoidal ``Lingam stones'' from the Narmada River in India exhibit similar counter-intuitive dynamical behavior. When spun around its minor axis in a horizontal plane, a Lingam stone will stand erect and spin around its major axis in a vertical position. This presentation will explore the history and some of the experimental facts and theoretical ideas about the rotational dynamics of such physical objects.

The discovery of over 50 planets around evolved stars and more than 35 debris discs orbiting white dwarfs highlight the increasing need to understand small body evolution around both early and asymptotic giant branch (GB) stars. Pebbles and asteroids are susceptible to strong accelerations from the intense luminosity and winds of GB stars. Here, we establish equations that can model time-varying GB stellar radiation, wind drag and mass loss. We derive the complete three-dimensional equations of motion in orbital elements due to (1) the Epstein and Stokes regimes of stellar wind drag, (2) Poynting-Robertson drag, and (3) the Yarkovsky drift with seasonal and diurnal components. We prove through averaging that the potential secular eccentricity and inclination excitation due to Yarkovsky drift can exceed that from Poynting-Robertson drag and radiation pressure by at least three orders of magnitude, possibly flinging asteroids which survive YORP spin-up into a widely dispersed cloud around the resulting white dw...

Water and simple organic molecular ices dominate the mass of solid materials available for planetesimal and planet formation beyond the water snow line. Here we analyze ALMA long baseline 2.9, 1.3 and 0.87 mm continuum images of the young star HL Tau, and suggest that the emission dips observed are due to rapid pebble growth around the condensation fronts of abundant volatile species. Specifically, we show that the prominent innermost dip at 13 AU is spatially resolved in the 0.87 mm image, and its center radius is coincident with the expected mid-plane condensation front of water ice. In addition, two other prominent dips, at distances of 32 and 63 AU, cover the mid-plane condensation fronts of pure ammonia or ammonia hydrates and clathrate hydrates (especially with CO and N$_2$) formed from amorphous water ice. The spectral index map of HL Tau between 1.3 and 0.87 mm shows that the flux ratios inside the dips are statistically larger than those of nearby regions in the disk. This variation can be explained ...

Water and simple organic molecular ices dominate the mass of solid materials available for planetesimal and planet formation beyond the water snow line. Here we analyze ALMA long baseline 2.9, 1.3 and 0.87 mm continuum images of the young star HL Tau, and suggest that the emission dips observed are due to rapid pebble growth around the condensation fronts of abundant volatile species. Specifically, we show that the prominent innermost dip at 13 AU is spatially resolved in the 0.87 mm image, and its center radius is coincident with the expected mid-plane condensation front of water ice. In addition, two other prominent dips, at distances of 32 and 63 AU, cover the mid-plane condensation fronts of pure ammonia or ammonia hydrates and clathrate hydrates (especially with CO and N{sub 2}) formed from amorphous water ice. The spectral index map of HL Tau between 1.3 and 0.87 mm shows that the flux ratios inside the dips are statistically larger than those of nearby regions in the disk. This variation can be explained by a model with two dust populations, where most of the solid mass resides in a component that has grown to decimeter size scales inside the dips. Such growth is in accord with recent numerical simulations of volatile condensation, dust coagulation, and settling.

This study investigated the neutronic characteristics of the Pebble Bed Advanced High Temperature Reactor (PB-AHTR), a novel nuclear reactor concept that combines liquid salt (7LiF-BeF2---flibe) cooling and TRISO coated-particle fuel technology. The use of flibe enables operation at high power density and atmospheric pressure and improves passive decay-heat removal capabilities, but flibe, unlike conventional helium coolant, is not transparent to neutrons. The flibe occupies 40% of the PB-AHTR core volume and absorbs ˜8% of the neutrons, but also acts as an effective neutron moderator. Two novel methodologies were developed for calculating the time dependent and equilibrium core composition: (1) a simplified single pebble model that is relatively fast; (2) a full 3D core model that is accurate and flexible but computationally intensive. A parametric analysis was performed spanning a wide range of fuel kernel diameters and graphite-to-heavy metal atom ratios to determine the attainable burnup and reactivity coefficients. Using 10% enriched uranium ˜130 GWd/tHM burnup was found to be attainable, when the graphite-to-heavy metal atom ratio (C/HM) is in the range of 300 to 400. At this or smaller C/HM ratio all reactivity coefficients examined---coolant temperature, coolant small and full void, fuel temperature, and moderator temperature, were found to be negative. The PB-AHTR performance was compared to that of alternative options for HTRs, including the helium-cooled pebble-bed reactor and prismatic fuel reactors, both gas-cooled and flibe-cooled. The attainable burnup of all designs was found to be similar. The PB-AHTR generates at least 30% more energy per pebble than the He-cooled pebble-bed reactor. Compared to LWRs the PB-AHTR requires 30% less natural uranium and 20% less separative work per unit of electricity generated. For deep burn TRU fuel made from recycled LWR spent fuel, it was found that in a single pass through the core ˜66% of the TRU can be

Full Text Available This is the continuation of a previous article titled "Fuzzy Games", where I defined a new type of games based on the Multilinear extensions f, of characteristic functions and most of standard theorems for cooperative games also hold for this new type of games: The fuzzy games. Now we give some other properties and the extension of the definition of Shapley¨s Value for Fuzzy Games Keywords: game theory, fuzzy sets, multiattribute decisions.

Designing and developing quality based computer game is always a challenging task for developers. In this paper I briefly discuss aero fighting war game based on simple 2D gaming concepts and developed in C & C++ programming languages, using old bitmapping concepts. Going into the details of the game development, I discuss the designed strategies, flow of game and implemented prototype version of game, especially for beginners of game programming.

The Outline of the development and history of a board game. The Mapping of the contemporary situation in the field of board games. Cultural, social and psychological aspects of playing board games. Defence of the stand that board games are not marginal subject beside modern sorts of amusement e.g. computer games. The Classification of modern board games with regard to their dominant cultural background and origin. The sociological survey on board games and motivation to their playing in the s...

This thesis answers the question of how, and what, people communicate to each other while playing games. The presented conclusions offer guidance to computer game developers on what means of communication they should support in games in order to provide better possibilities for interaction between people that play games together. The data for this study was collected from two sources: the first was during LinCon, an annual game convention in Linköping, and consists of four players playing a g...

Only by finding and focusing on a core mechanism can you further your pursuit of elegance in strategy game design.Clockwork Game Design is the most functional and directly applicable theory for game design. It details the clockwork game design pattern, which focuses on building around fundamental functionality. You can then use this understanding to prescribe a system for building and refining your rulesets. A game can achieve clarity of purpose by starting with a strong core, then removing elements that conflict with that core while adding elements that support it.Filled with examples and exe

Grammar learning has often been regarded as a structure based activity .Grammar games which are worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom can help learner to learn and recall a grammar material in a pleasant, entertaining way and motivate learners,promote the communicative competence and generate the fluency. In this essay, the author compares the use of games in learning grammar with some traditional techniques for grammar presentation and revision, in order to find the advantages of using games. Also the author discusses how to choose appropriate games and when to use games.

This article gives instructions for designing a visually attractive, entertaining, faculty-led computer game for pharmacology review in a nursing education program. The game uses Microsoft PowerPoint, a presentation program that is inexpensive, easy to master, and widely available. Instructions for using Visual Basic for Applications to customize the game are included to allow tracking questions asked and the score of groups playing the game. The game can be easily adapted to material by specific nursing programs with access to PowerPoint.

We introduce the formalism of action investment energy games where we study the trade-off between investments limited by given budgets and resource constrained (energy) behavior of the underlying system. More specifically, we consider energy games extended with costs of enabling actions and fixed...... budgets for each player. We ask the question whether for any Player 2 investment there exists a Player 1 investment such that Player 1 wins the resulting energy game. We study the action investment energy game for energy intervals with both upper and lower bounds, and with a lower bound only, and give...... a complexity results overview for the problem of deciding the winner in the game....

in the higher levels of education. In order to obtain this intuition repeated practice is required. This paper presents the development of DiffGame, which consists of a series of exercises that introduce the basic principles of differentiation for high-school students through game-like elements. DiffGame have...... been tested with 117 first-year students from a single Danish high school, who did not have any prior training in differentiation. The students’ learning was assessed by the data obtained directly from DiffGame. The test demonstrated the efficacy of DiffGame, since students at all levels demonstrate...

This paper studies the effects of introducing altruistic agents into atomic congestion games. Altruistic behavior is modeled by a trade-off between selfish and social objectives. In particular, we assume agents optimize a linear combination of personal delay of a strategy and the resulting increase in social cost. Our model can be embedded in the framework of congestion games with player-specific latency functions. Stable states are the Nash equilibria of these games, and we examine their existence and the convergence of sequential best-response dynamics. Previous work shows that for symmetric singleton games with convex delays Nash equilibria are guaranteed to exist. For concave delay functions we observe that there are games without Nash equilibria and provide a polynomial time algorithm to decide existence for symmetric singleton games with arbitrary delay functions. Our algorithm can be extended to compute best and worst Nash equilibria if they exist. For more general congestion games existence becomes NP...

Small changes in the framing of games (i.e., the way in which the game situation is described to participants) can have large effects on players' choices. For example, referring to a prisoner's dilemma game as the "Community Game" as opposed to the "Wall Street Game" can double the cooperation rate

This article considers game design research in educational settings. Its focus is on how undergraduate students – particularly engineering students – learn computer game design. From observations conducted during our game design courses we have developed a model of expanded game design space......, providing a clear game design assignment that involves the formulation of intended player experience and a description of game mechanics. The second layer focuses on game design thinking from six different aspects of game design chosen in relation to the framing of the game design assignment. The third....... It encapsulates the entire development process from the first ideas to the final game with emphasis on game design thinking. Our model of expanded game design space consists of four separate – yet interconnected – layers in the process of game development. The first layer addresses the importance of framing...

Game refinement idea is a unique theory that has been proposed based on the uncertainty of game outcome. A game refinement measure was derived from the game information progress model and has been applied in the traditional board games. The present challenge is to apply the game refinement theory in the domain of various games such as RTS(StarCraft II), MOBA(DotA), crane game and score limited sports. In conclusion, this paper makes contribution to apply game refinement theory in these new ar...

This article discusses how developmental and behaviorist learning theories can be used to create educational games. The Piagetian rationale for the use of games is examined and three benefits of gaming are identified: (1) games are related to intellectual, socio-emotional, and motor learning in young children, (2) gaming requires aspects of…

Sex and violence in video games is a social issue that confronts us all, especially as many commercial games are now being introduced for game-based learning in schools, and as such this paper polls teenage players about the rules their parents and teachers may or may not have, and surveys the gaming community, ie, game developers to parents, to…

Sex and violence in video games is a social issue that confronts us all, especially as many commercial games are now being introduced for game-based learning in schools, and as such this paper polls teenage players about the rules their parents and teachers may or may not have, and surveys the gaming community, ie, game developers to parents, to…

The use of commercial games to design and construct games to drill specific mathematics skills is discussed. Game types discussed include card games and board games. Two game boards adapted from "Chutes and Ladders" and "Battleship" are provided. (CW)

Full Text Available Lithium titanate with excess lithium (Li2+xTiO3+y is one of the most promising candidates among advanced tritium breeders for demonstration power plant reactors because of its good tritium release characteristics. However, the tritium breeding ratio (TBR of Li2+xTiO3+y is smaller than that of e.g., Li2O or Li8TiO6 because of its lower Li density. Therefore, new Li-containing ceramic composites with both high stability and high Li density have been developed. Thus, this study focused on the development of a solid solution with a new characteristic. The solid-solution pebbles of Li2+xTiO3+y with Li2ZrO3 (Li2+x(Ti,ZrO3+y, designated as LTZO, were fabricated by an emulsion method. The X-ray diffraction patterns of sintered LTZO pebbles are approximately the same as those of Li2+xTiO3+y pebbles, and no peaks attributable to Li2ZrO3 are observed. These results demonstrate that LTZO pebbles are not a two-phase material but rather a solid solution. Furthermore, LTZO pebbles were easily sintered under air. Thus, the LTZO solid solution is a candidate breeder material for super advanced (SA tritium breeders.

Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} pebbles have been recognized as attractive tritium breeder materials in the fusion reactor blanket of international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). In this work, we present a facile method to prepare Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} pebbles of high density and sphericity by using a directive wet method with the Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} powders synthesized via sol–gel process. The Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} powders were prepared with two-step calcinating method, followed by a ball-milling process. Thermal and phase analysis, morphologies and sintering behaviors observations of the pebbles were carried out systematically. Experimental results show that the pure phase powders with white color that prepared by using two-step calcinating method is different from the powders prepared by the traditional direct calcinating method. The subsequent ball milling process proves to be effective to improve the relative density of the sintered body. When sintered at the temperature as low as 850 °C for 4 h, the favorable Li{sub 4}SiO{sub 4} pebbles with uniform size (∼1 mm), good sphericity (1.02), and high density (above 90% T.D.) were fabricated by using a directive wet method. The as-fabricated pebbles hold good potential as tritium breeding materials for blankets.

In the EXOTIC-8 irradiation experiment in the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, lithium orthosilicate (OSi) pebbles with 50% {sup 6}Li-content were irradiated with the aim at investigating the behaviour of breeder ceramics at DEMO relevant burn-up. Specifically, changes in the mechanical stability as well as in the tritium release properties (in-pile and out-of-pile) had to be studied. After the completion of the irradiation, lithium orthosilicate pebble samples were shipped to the Research Centre of Karlsruhe (FZK) for post-irradiation examinations. The pebbles irradiated up to about 11% {sup 6}Li burn-up showed an increase in smaller cracks in the bulk and the presence of larger through-cracks, but the amount of fragments is quite small and the pebbles maintained a very good crush load. On the basis of these results, it can be concluded that the OSi pebbles can withstand high burn-up irradiation without an unduly high fragmentation.

A hydrogeochemical study using high resolution ICP-MS was undertaken at the giant Pebble porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit and surrounding mineral occurrences. Surface water and groundwater samples from regional background and the deposit area were collected at 168 sites. Rigorous quality control reveals impressive results at low nanogram per litre (ng/l) levels. Sites with pH values below 5.1 are from ponds in the Pebble West area, where sulphide-bearing rubble crop is thinly covered. Relative to other study area waters, anomalous concentrations of Cu, Cd, K, Ni, Re, the REE, Tl, SO42− and F− are present in water samples from Pebble West. Samples from circum-neutral waters at Pebble East and parts of Pebble West, where cover is much thicker, have anomalous concentrations of Ag, As, In, Mn, Mo, Sb, Th, U, V, and W. Low-level anomalous concentrations for most of these elements were also found in waters surrounding nearby porphyry and skarn mineral occurrences. Many of these elements are present in low ng/l concentration ranges and would not have been detected using traditional quadrupole ICP-MS. Hydrogeochemical exploration paired with high resolution ICP-MS is a powerful new tool in the search for concealed deposits.

Uranium has been discovered in fluvial quartz-pebble conglomerates in most of the Precambrian shield areas of the world, including the Canadian, African, South American, Indian, Baltic, and Australian shields. Occurrences in these and other areas are shown. Two of these occurrences, the Huronian supergroup of Canada and the Witwatersrand deposit of South Africa contain 20 to 30 percent of the planet's known uranium reserves. Thus it is critical that we understand the origin of these deposits and develop exploration models that can aid in finding new deposits. Inasmuch as these uranium-bearing conglomerates are confined almost entirely to rocks of Precambrian age, Part I of this review begins with a discussion of Precambrian geology as it applies to the conglomerates. This is followed by a discussion of genetic concepts, a discussion of unresolved problems, and finally a suggested exploration model. Part II summarizes known and potential occurrences of Precambrian fossil placers in the world and evaluates them in terms of the suggested exploration model. Part III discusses the potential for important Precambrian fossil-placer uranium deposits in the United States and includes suggestions that may be helpful in establishing an exploration program in this country. Part III also brings together new (1975-1978) data on uranium occurrences in the Precambrian of the Wyoming Province. Part IV is a complete bibliography of Precambrian fossil placers, divided according to geographical areas. In total, this paper is designed to be a comprehensive review of Precambrian uranium-bearing fossil placers which will be of use to uranium explorationists and to students of Precambrian geology.

We investigate the chemical composition of the Solar system's giant planets atmospheres using a physical formation model with chemistry. The model incorporate disc evolution, pebbles and gas accretion, type I and II migration, simplified disc photoevaporation and Solar system chemical measurements. We track the chemical compositions of the formed giant planets and compare them to the observed values. Two categories of models are studied: with and without disc chemical enrichment via photoevaporation (PE). Predictions for the oxygen and nitrogen abundances, core masses and total amount of heavy elements for the planets are made for each case. We find that in the case without disc PE, both Jupiter and Saturn will have a small residual core and comparable total amounts of heavy elements in the envelopes. We predict oxygen abundances enrichments in the same order as carbon, phosphorus and sulfur for both planets. Cometary nitrogen abundances does not allow us to easily reproduce Jupiter's nitrogen observations. In the case with disc PE, less core erosion is needed to reproduce the chemical composition of the atmospheres, so both planets will end up with possibly more massive residual cores and higher total mass of heavy elements. It is also significantly easier to reproduce Jupiter's nitrogen abundance. No single disc was found to form both Jupiter and Saturn with all their constraints in the case without photoevaporation. No model was able to fit the constraints on Uranus and Neptune, hinting towards a more complicated formation mechanism for these planets. The predictions of these models should be compared to the upcoming Juno measurements to better understand the origins of the Solar system giant planets.

Full Text Available Drosophila body wall muscles are multinucleated syncytia formed by successive fusions between a founder myoblast and several fusion competent myoblasts. Initial fusion gives rise to a bi/trinucleate precursor followed by more fusion cycles forming a mature muscle. This process requires the functions of various molecules including the transmembrane myoblast attractants Dumbfounded (Duf and its paralogue Roughest (Rst, a scaffold protein Rolling pebbles (Rols and a guanine nucleotide exchange factor Loner. Fusion completely fails in a duf, rst mutant, and is blocked at the bi/trinucleate stage in rols and loner single mutants. We analysed the transmembrane and intracellular domains of Duf, by mutating conserved putative signaling sites and serially deleting the intracellular domain. These were tested for their ability to translocate and interact with Rols and Loner and to rescue the fusion defect in duf, rst mutant embryos. Studying combinations of double mutants, further tested the function of Rols, Loner and other fusion molecules. Here we show that serial truncations of the Duf intracellular domain successively compromise its function to translocate and interact with Rols and Loner in addition to affecting myoblast fusion efficiency in embryos. Putative phosphorylation sites function additively while the extreme C terminus including a PDZ binding domain is dispensable for its function. We also show that fusion is completely blocked in a rols, loner double mutant and is compromised in other double mutants. These results suggest an additive function of the intracellular domain of Duf and an early function of Rols and Loner which is independent of Duf.

The emerging field of game user research (GUR) investigates interaction between players and games and the surrounding context of play. Game user researchers have explored methods from, for example, human-computer interaction, psychology, interaction design......The emerging field of game user research (GUR) investigates interaction between players and games and the surrounding context of play. Game user researchers have explored methods from, for example, human-computer interaction, psychology, interaction design...

The emerging field of game user research (GUR) investigates interaction between players and games and the surrounding context of play. Game user researchers have explored methods from, for example, human-computer interaction, psychology, interaction design......The emerging field of game user research (GUR) investigates interaction between players and games and the surrounding context of play. Game user researchers have explored methods from, for example, human-computer interaction, psychology, interaction design...

... Nobel's Life and Work Teachers' Questionnaire The Blood Typing Game What happens if you get a blood ... learn about human blood types! Play the Blood Typing Game About this game Embed the Blood Typing ...

... Life and Work Teachers' Questionnaire The Blood Typing Game What happens if you get a blood transfusion ... of the game 2012 Winner of the Best Game Category by Swedish Learning Awards " The winner has ...

Full Text Available We report an experiment exploring sequential context effects on strategy choices in one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma (PD game. Rapoport and Chammah (1965 have shown that some PDs are cooperative and lead to high cooperation rate, whereas others are uncooperative. Participants played very cooperative and very uncooperative games, against anonymous partners. The order in which these games were played affected their cooperation rate by producing perceptual contrast, which appeared only between the trials, but not between two separate sequences of games. These findings suggest that people may not have stable perceptions of absolute cooperativeness. Instead, they judge the cooperativeness of each fresh game only in relation to the previous game. The observed effects suggest that the principles underlying judgments about highly abstract magnitudes such as cooperativeness may be similar to principles governing the perception of sensory magnitudes.

in a number of countries is under pressure. Development of new types of technology which can secure self-sustainability and life quality for elderly has been suggested as way to diminish some of the problems caused by an ageing society. It has been shown that even a small amount of physical activity can...... spatio-temporal information about player behaviour - more specifically, I investigate three types of games each using a different control strategy. The first game is based on basic robot control which allows the robot to detect and follow a person. A field study in a rehabilitation centre and a nursing....... The robot facilitates interaction, and the study suggests that robot based games potentially can be used for training balance and orientation. The second game consists in an adaptive game algorithm which gradually adjusts the game challenge to the mobility skills of the player based on spatio...

Recent years have seen a deluge of behavioral data from players hitting the game industry. Reasons for this data surge are many and include the introduction of new business models, technical innovations, the popularity of online games, and the increasing persistence of games. Irrespective...... of the causes, the proliferation of behavioral data poses the problem of how to derive insights therefrom. Behavioral data sets can be large, time-dependent and high-dimensional. Clustering offers a way to explore such data and to discover patterns that can reduce the overall complexity of the data. Clustering...... and other techniques for player profiling and play style analysis have, therefore, become popular in the nascent field of game analytics. However, the proper use of clustering techniques requires expertise and an understanding of games is essential to evaluate results. With this paper, we address game data...

In this paper we consider the problem of making design of digital games accessible to primary school children and their teachers, and we argue for the need of digital games that are easy to alter by young learners. We know from previous research projects that digital games do not enable children...... to express their creativity at full, in contrast with low-fidelity prototypes and non-digital toys (such as card or table top games). Therefore, we propose here a novel approach that serves as a middle ground between digital and traditional table top games, and grants children more freedom to express...... themselves, articulate their understanding and difficulties both individually and socially. This approach, called card-based model for digital game design, is an alternative to the current trend of associating programming with digital creativity. A preliminary study was conducted by transposing a digital...

This book presents a rigorous introduction to the mathematics of game theory without losing sight of the joy of the subject. This is done by focusing on theoretical highlights (e.g., at least six Nobel Prize winning results are developed from scratch) and by presenting exciting connections of game theory to other fields, such as computer science, economics, social choice, biology, and learning theory. Both classical topics, such as zero-sum games, and modern topics, such as sponsored search auctions, are covered. Along the way, beautiful mathematical tools used in game theory are introduced, including convexity, fixed-point theorems, and probabilistic arguments. The book is appropriate for a first course in game theory at either the undergraduate or graduate level, whether in mathematics, economics, computer science, or statistics. Game theory's influence is felt in a wide range of disciplines, and the authors deliver masterfully on the challenge of presenting both the breadth and coherence of its underlying ...

Learning games are facing a new challenge if it is to meet the educational demand for creativity training. In the article, it is argued that reflection is the key to teach creativity, and that we have to reconsider our current approach to creating educational role-playing games in order to meet...... this demand. The article presents a number of challenges to accomplishing this, as well as a number of tools for designing and using creativity facilitating games....

Language has often been compared to the game of Chess. In this article, I claim that a productive analogy for linguistic interaction would be the Asian board game GO. I further explore common aspects of language use and creative play that we find in improvised ensemble music-making. What is said about language and games, and language and improvised music-making is then related to a discussion of linguistic interaction as constitutive of thought and mind.

Learning games are facing a new challenge if it is to meet the educational demand for creativity training. In the article, it is argued that reflection is the key to teach creativity, and that we have to reconsider our current approach to creating educational role-playing games in order to meet...... this demand. The article presents a number of challenges to accomplishing this, as well as a number of tools for designing and using creativity facilitating games....

Probability theory governs the outcome of a game; there is a distribution over mixed strat.'s, not a single "equilibrium". To predict a single mixed strategy must use our loss function (external to the game's players. Provides a quantification of any strategy's rationality. Prove rationality falls as cost of computation rises (for players who have not previously interacted). All extends to games with varying numbers of players.

Coloring games are combinatorial games where the players alternate painting uncolored vertices of a graph one of $k > 0$ colors. Each different ruleset specifies that game's coloring constraints. This paper investigates six impartial rulesets (five new), derived from previously-studied graph coloring schemes, including proper map coloring, oriented coloring, 2-distance coloring, weak coloring, and sequential coloring. For each, we study the outcome classes for special cases and general computational complexity. In some cases we pay special attention to the Grundy function.

As a result of its unique characteristics as a technology and a medium, a computer game engages its players with several novel forms of coproductivity, such as modding, the making of machinima videos, and the writing of game play walkthroughs. Depending on the game, genre, and playing style, the player is either expected or encouraged to create game content and game-related texts of her own. This essay discusses the productive practices surrounding computer games, proposing five dimensions of...

In this article I present a narrative theory of games, building on standard narra-tology, as a solution to the conundrum that has haunted computer game studies from the start: How to approach software that combines games and stories?......In this article I present a narrative theory of games, building on standard narra-tology, as a solution to the conundrum that has haunted computer game studies from the start: How to approach software that combines games and stories?...

In this article I present a narrative theory of games, building on standard narra-tology, as a solution to the conundrum that has haunted computer game studies from the start: How to approach software that combines games and stories?......In this article I present a narrative theory of games, building on standard narra-tology, as a solution to the conundrum that has haunted computer game studies from the start: How to approach software that combines games and stories?...

New branches of scientific disciplines often have a few paradigmatic models that serve as a testing ground for theories and a starting point for new inquiries. In the late 1990s, one of these models found fertile ground in the growing field of econophysics: the Minority Game (MG), a model for speculative markets that combined conceptual simplicity with interesting emergent behaviour and challenging mathematics. The two basic ingredients were the minority mechanism (a large number of players have to choose one of two alternatives in each round, and the minority wins) and limited rationality (each player has a small set of decision rules, and chooses the more successful ones). Combining these, one observes a phase transition between a crowded and an inefficient market phase, fat-tailed price distributions at the transition, and many other nontrivial effects. Now, seven years after the first paper, three of the key players-Damien Challet, Matteo Marsili and Yi-Cheng Zhang-have published a monograph that summarizes the current state of the science. The book consists of two parts: a 100-page overview of the various aspects of the MG, and reprints of many essential papers. The first chapters of Part I give a well-written description of the motivation and the history behind the MG, and then go into the phenomenology and the mathematical treatment of the model. The authors emphasize the 'physics' underlying the behaviour and give coherent, intuitive explanations that are difficult to extract from the original papers. The mathematics is outlined, but calculations are not carried out in great detail (maybe they could have been included in an appendix). Chapter 4 then discusses how and why the MG is a model for speculative markets, how it can be modified to give a closer fit to observed market statistics (in particular, reproducing the 'stylized facts' of fat-tailed distributions and volatility clustering), and what conclusions one can draw from the

There is an increasing interest in health games including simulation tools, games for specific conditions, persuasive games to promote a healthy life style or exergames where physical exercise is used to control the game. The objective of the article is to review current literature about available health games and the impact related to game design principles as well as some educational theory aspects. Literature from the big databases and known sites with games for health has been searched to find articles about games for health purposes. The focus has been on educational games, persuasive games and exergames as well as articles describing game design principles. The medical objectives can either be a part of the game theme (intrinsic) or be totally dispatched (extrinsic), and particularly persuasive games seem to use extrinsic game design. Peer support is important, but there is only limited research on multiplayer health games. Evaluation of health games can be both medical and technical, and the focus will depend on the game purpose. There is still not enough evidence to conclude which design principles work for what purposes since most of the literature in health serious games does not specify design methodologies, but it seems that extrinsic methods work in persuasion. However, when designing health care games it is important to define both the target group and main objective, and then design a game accordingly using sound game design principles, but also utilizing design elements to enhance learning and persuasion. A collaboration with health professionals from an early design stage is necessary both to ensure that the content is valid and to have the game validated from a clinical viewpoint. Patients need to be involved, especially to improve usability. More research should be done on social aspects in health games, both related to learning and persuasion.

Background There is an increasing interest in health games including simulation tools, games for specific conditions, persuasive games to promote a healthy life style or exergames where physical exercise is used to control the game. Objective The objective of the article is to review current literature about available health games and the impact related to game design principles as well as some educational theory aspects. Methods Literature from the big databases and known sites with games for health has been searched to find articles about games for health purposes. The focus has been on educational games, persuasive games and exergames as well as articles describing game design principles. Results The medical objectives can either be a part of the game theme (intrinsic) or be totally dispatched (extrinsic), and particularly persuasive games seem to use extrinsic game design. Peer support is important, but there is only limited research on multiplayer health games. Evaluation of health games can be both medical and technical, and the focus will depend on the game purpose. Conclusion There is still not enough evidence to conclude which design principles work for what purposes since most of the literature in health serious games does not specify design methodologies, but it seems that extrinsic methods work in persuasion. However, when designing health care games it is important to define both the target group and main objective, and then design a game accordingly using sound game design principles, but also utilizing design elements to enhance learning and persuasion. A collaboration with health professionals from an early design stage is necessary both to ensure that the content is valid and to have the game validated from a clinical viewpoint. Patients need to be involved, especially to improve usability. More research should be done on social aspects in health games, both related to learning and persuasion. PMID:23616865

People differ regarding their "Big Three" mate preferences of attractiveness, status, and interpersonal warmth. We explain these differences by linking them to the "Big Two" personality dimensions of agency/competence and communion/warmth. The similarity-attracts hypothesis predicts that people high in agency prefer attractiveness and status in mates, whereas those high in communion prefer warmth. However, these effects may be moderated by agentics' tendency to contrast from ambient culture, and communals' tendency to assimilate to ambient culture. Attending to such agentic-cultural-contrast and communal-cultural-assimilation crucially qualifies the similarity-attracts hypothesis. Data from 187,957 online-daters across 11 countries supported this model for each of the Big Three. For example, agentics-more so than communals-preferred attractiveness, but this similarity-attracts effect virtually vanished in attractiveness-valuing countries. This research may reconcile inconsistencies in the literature while utilizing nonhypothetical and consequential mate preference reports that, for the first time, were directly linked to mate choice.

This report consists of three volumes which describe the design concepts and screening evaluation for a 3000 MW(t) Pebble Bed Reactor Multiplex Plant (PBR-MX). The Multiplex plant produces both electricity and transportable chemical energy via the thermochemical pipeline (TCP). The evaluation was limited to a direct cycle plant which has the steam generators and steam reformers in the primary circuit. This volume describes the conceptual balance-of-plant (BOP) design and was prepared by United Engineers and Constructors, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The major emphasis of the BOP study was a preliminary design of an overall plant to provide a basis for future studies.

This investigation is divided into two general topics: (1) a new method for analyzing the safe shutdown earthquake event in a pebble bed reactor core, and (2) the development of an explicit tristructural-isotropic fuel model for high temperature reactors. The safe shutdown earthquake event is one of the design basis accidents for the pebble bed reactor. The new method captures the dynamic geometric compaction of the pebble bed core. The neutronic and thermal-fluids grids are dynamically re-meshed to simulate the re-arrangement of the pebbles in the reactor during the earthquake. Results are shown for the PBMR-400 assuming it is subjected to the Idaho National Laboratory's design basis earthquake. The study concludes that the PBMR-400 can safely withstand the reactivity insertions induced by the slumping of the core and the resulting relative withdrawal of the control rods. This characteristic stems from the large negative Doppler feedback of the fuel. This Doppler feedback mechanism is a major contributor to the passive safety of gas-cooled, graphite-moderated, high-temperature reactors that use fuel based on TRISO particles. The correct prediction of the magnitude and time-dependence of this feedback effect is essential to the conduct of safety analyses for these reactors. An explicit TRISO fuel temperature model named THETRIS has been developed in this work and incorporated in the CYNOD-THERMIX-KONVEK suite of coupled codes. The new model yields similar results to those obtained with more complex methods, requiring multi-TRISO calculations within one control volume. The performance of the code during fast and moderately-slow transients is verified. These analyses show how explicit TRISO models improve the predictions of the fuel temperature, and consequently, of the power escalation. In addition, a brief study of the potential effects on the transient behavior of high-temperature reactors due to the presence of a gap inside the TRISO particles is included

turn their users into blood thirsty zombies with a computer game learnt ability of aiming with deadly precision. The goal of this paper is to pay attention to the ethical nature of computer games, in order to understand better the ways we can evaluate their morality in western cultures providing...... a framework to understand some of these concerns. This paper poses questions about the ontology of games and their ethical meaning, in an attempt to give ethical theory a word in the analysis of computer games....

hese days one of the buzzwords in computer game industry and research is ‘Serious Games’ – games where the actions of the player are not limited to the virtual world but are somehow related to the real world. Computer games can be strong environments for learning and training skills in the real...... world. Computer games can also be persuasive – they can be used for advertising (‘adver-gaming’) and induce the players to buy a particular product in the real world or they can propagate a particular political viewpoint or a critique of the real world. The area of ‘serious gaming’ is vast and varied....

This paper will examine how probes can be useful for game designers in the preliminary phases of a design process. The work is based upon a case study concerning pervasive mobile phone games where Mobile Game Probes have emerged from the project. The new probes are aimed towards a specific target...... group and the goal is to specify the probes so they will cover the most relevant areas for our project. The Mobile Game Probes generated many interesting results and new issues occurred, since the probes came to be dynamic and favorable for the process in new ways....

Full Text Available The application of games for behavioral change has seen a surge in popularity but evidence on the efficacy of these games is contradictory. Anecdotal findings seem to confirm their motivational value whereas most quantitative findings from randomized controlled trials (RCT are negative or difficult to interpret. One cause for the contradictory evidence could be that the standard RCT validation methods are not sensitive to serious games’ effects. To be able to adapt validation methods to the properties of serious games we need a framework that can connect properties of serious game design to the factors that influence the quality of quantitative research outcomes. The Persuasive Game Design model [1] is particularly suitable for this aim as it encompasses the full circle from game design to behavioral change effects on the user. We therefore use this model to connect game design features, such as the gamification method and the intended transfer effect, to factors that determine the conclusion validity of an RCT. In this paper we will apply this model to develop guidelines for setting up validation methods for serious games. This way, we offer game designers and researchers handles on how to develop tailor-made validation methods.

The ability to understand and predict behavior in strategic situations, in which an individual's success in making choices depends on the choices of others, has been the domain of game theory since the 1950s. Developing the theories at the heart of game theory has resulted in 8 Nobel Prizes and insights that researchers in many fields continue to develop. In Volume 4, top scholars synthesize and analyze mainstream scholarship on games and economic behavior, providing an updated account of developments in game theory since the 2002 publication of Volume 3, which only covers work through the mi

Evaluating interactive systems for their user experience (UX) is a standard approach in industry and research today. This book explores the areas of game design and development and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) as ways to understand the various contributing aspects of the overall gaming experience. Fully updated, extended and revised this book is based upon the original publication Evaluating User Experience in Games, and provides updated methods and approaches ranging from user- orientated methods to game specific approaches. New and emerging methods and areas explored include physiologi

Combining actionable, real-world source code with graphics, Pro Android Games, Third Edition shows you how to build more sophisticated and addictive Android game apps with minimum effort. Harness the power of the latest Android 5.0 SDK to bring countless legendary, action-packed PC games to the Android platform. With actionable real-world source code, this one of a kind book shows you how to build more sophisticated and addictive Android game apps, by leveraging the power of the recent advancements found in the new Android 5.0 software development kit as well as those you've counted on in e

The event known as #GamerGate (GG) emphasized the need to take the study of game culture seriously and pursue it across several platforms. It demonstrated how seemingly ephemeral media created echo chambers of anger, and how the outbursts of hypermasculine aggression exemplified by hooligans also...... can connect to games and play. Starting from how GG gained popular attention, this article outlines and discusses the nature of GG, the relation to the victims, the sense of victimization among the participants, and how it may have been provoked by the long-standing, general disregard of games...... the image of game culture as mainly a culture of isolated consumption...

hese days one of the buzzwords in computer game industry and research is ‘Serious Games’ – games where the actions of the player are not limited to the virtual world but are somehow related to the real world. Computer games can be strong environments for learning and training skills in the real...... world. Computer games can also be persuasive – they can be used for advertising (‘adver-gaming’) and induce the players to buy a particular product in the real world or they can propagate a particular political viewpoint or a critique of the real world. The area of ‘serious gaming’ is vast and varied....

Playing games of any kind, from tennis to board games, it is easy to notice that games are configured in space, often using stripes or a kind of map on a board. Some games are clearly performed within this marked border, while it may be difficult to pinpoint such a visual border in a game like hide......-and-seek, even though this game is still spatially configured. The border (visible or not) both seems to separate and uphold the game that it is meant for. Johan Huizinga noted this “separateness” in his classic work “Homo Ludens” (Huizinga 1938, translated into English 1955). This has since been developed...... into the concept of the “magic circle” by Salen and Zimmerman (2003), as an understanding of playing games as a kind of alternate reality. When a person enters the magic circle of a game, the player suddenly finds himself in another world, where artefacts are given new meaning and where other rules apply...

Full Text Available Although educational games have revealed to be a very effective focus in diverse situations, their use in education is still very limited. In this paper we analyse the main challenges concerning educational games that, from our perspective, have to be approached so that the use of this kind of games can be widespread. These challenges are classified in three main dimensions: socio-cultural, educational and technological. Once the challenges are identified, some possible measures are suggested to address or reduce these problems so that the use of educational games may be widespread.

feedback are presented: factor- and neighborhood-oriented models. These form the rst application of rec- ommender systems to digital games. Both models are tested on a dataset of 500,000 users of the game distribution platform Steam, covering game ownership and playtime data across more than 3000 games....... Compared to four other recommender models (nearest neighbor, two popularity mod- els, random baseline), the archetype based models provide the highest recall rates showing that Archetypal Analysis can be successfully applied for Top-L recommendation purposes...

The authors show that there are underlying mathematical reasons for why games and puzzles are challenging (and perhaps why they are so much fun). They also show that games and puzzles can serve as powerful models of computation-quite different from the usual models of automata and circuits-offering a new way of thinking about computation. The appendices provide a substantial survey of all known results in the field of game complexity, serving as a reference guide for readers interested in the computational complexity of particular games, or interested in open problems about such complexities.

This article investigates digital game play (gaming) as a specific media field (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 72), in which especially gaming capital (Consalvo, 2007) functions as a theoretical lens. We aim to analyse the specific practices that constitute and are constituted in and around gaming. This mult......This article investigates digital game play (gaming) as a specific media field (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 72), in which especially gaming capital (Consalvo, 2007) functions as a theoretical lens. We aim to analyse the specific practices that constitute and are constituted in and around gaming...

We begin by reviewing and proving the basic facts of combinatorial game theory. We then consider scoring games (also known as Milnor games or positional games), focusing on the "fixed-length" games for which all sequences of play terminate after the same number of moves. The theory of fixed-length scoring games is shown to have properties similar to the theory of loopy combinatorial games, with operations similar to onsides and offsides. We give a complete description of the structure of fixed-length scoring games in terms of the class of short partizan games. We also consider fixed-length scoring games taking values in the two-element boolean algebra, and classify these games up to indistinguishability. We then apply these results to analyze some positions in the knotting-unknotting game of Pechenik, Townsend, Henrich, MacNaughton, and Silversmith.

Full Text Available How to design useful digital game-based learning is a topic worthy of discussion. Past research focused on specific game genres design, but it is difficult to use when the target game genre differs from the default genres used in the research. This study presents macrodesign concepts that elucidates 11 crucial game-design factors, including game goals, game mechanism, game fantasy, game value, interaction, freedom, narrative, sensation, challenges, sociality, and mystery. We clearly define each factor and analyze the relationships among the 11 factors to construct a game-based learning design model. Two application examples are analyzed to verify the usability of the model and the performance of these factors. It can assist educational game designers in developing interesting games.

Aeromagnetic data are used to better understand the geology and mineral resources near the Late Cretaceous Pebble porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit in southwestern Alaska. The reduced-to-pole (RTP) transformation of regional-scale aeromagnetic data shows that the Pebble deposit is within a cluster of magnetic anomaly highs. Similar to Pebble, the Iliamna, Kijik, and Neacola porphyry copper occurrences are in magnetic highs that trend northeast along the crustal-scale Lake Clark fault. A high-amplitude, short- to moderate-wavelength anomaly is centered over the Kemuk occurrence, an Alaska-type ultramafic complex. Similar anomalies are found west and north of Kemuk. A moderate-amplitude, moderate-wavelength magnetic low surrounded by a moderate-amplitude, short-wavelength magnetic high is associated with the gold-bearing Shotgun intrusive complex. The RTP transformation of the district-scale aeromagnetic data acquired over Pebble permits differentiation of a variety of Jurassic to Tertiary magmatic rock suites. Jurassic-Cretaceous basalt and gabbro units and Late Cretaceous biotite pyroxenite and granodiorite rocks produce magnetic highs. Tertiary basalt units also produce magnetic highs, but appear to be volumetrically minor. Eocene monzonite units have associated magnetic lows. The RTP data do not suggest a magnetite-rich hydrothermal system at the Pebble deposit. The 10-km upward continuation transformation of the regional-scale data shows a linear northeast trend of magnetic anomaly highs. These anomalies are spatially correlated with Late Cretaceous igneous rocks and in the Pebble district are centered over the granodiorite rocks genetically related to porphyry copper systems. The spacing of these anomalies is similar to patterns shown by the numerous porphyry copper deposits in northern Chile. These anomalies are interpreted to reflect a Late Cretaceous magmatic arc that is favorable for additional discoveries of Late Cretaceous porphyry copper systems in southwestern

The following is a guidance document from a series prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), under the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI), to assist facility designers and operators in implementing international Safeguards-by-Design (SBD). SBD has two main objectives: (1) to avoid costly and time consuming redesign work or retrofits of new nuclear fuel cycle facilities and (2) to make the implementation of international safeguards more effective and efficient at such facilities. In the long term, the attainment of these goals would save industry and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) time, money, and resources and be mutually beneficial. This particular safeguards guidance document focuses on pebble fuel high temperature gas reactors (HTGR). The purpose of the IAEA safeguards system is to provide credible assurance to the international community that nuclear material and other specified items are not diverted from peaceful nuclear uses. The safeguards system consists of the IAEA’s statutory authority to establish safeguards; safeguards rights and obligations in safeguards agreements and additional protocols; and technical measures implemented pursuant to those agreements. Of foremost importance is the international safeguards agreement between the country and the IAEA, concluded pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). According to a 1992 IAEA Board of Governors decision, countries must: notify the IAEA of a decision to construct a new nuclear facility as soon as such decision is taken; provide design information on such facilities as the designs develop; and provide detailed design information based on construction plans at least 180 days prior to the start of construction, and on "as-built" designs at least 180 days before the first receipt of nuclear material. Ultimately, the design information will be captured in an IAEA Design Information

The move of nuclear plant construction from the field to the factory for small, advanced pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) designs has significant benefits compared to traditional light water reactor (LWR) field oriented designs. The use of modular factory construction techniques has a growing economic benefit over time through well-established process learning applications. This paper addresses the basic PBMR design objectives and commercialization model that drive this approach; provides a brief technical description of the PBMR design and layout with representative CAD views and discusses derived figures of merit highlighting the relative simplicity of PBMR compared to a modern LWR. The discussion emphasizes that more of PBMR can be built in the factory due to the simple design of a direct helium Brayton cycle compared to an indirect LWR steam cycle with its associated equipment. For the PBMR design there are fewer and less cumbersome auxiliary and safety systems with their attendant support requirements. Additionally, the labor force economic efficiency for nuclear projects is better in the factory than in the field, including consideration of labor costs and nuclear quality programs. Industrial learning is better in the factory because of the more controlled environment, mechanization optimization opportunities and because of the more stable labor force compared to the field. Supply chain benefits are more readily achievable with strategic contracts for module suppliers. Although building a nuclear power plant is not a typical high volume manufacturing process, for the PBMR-type of plant, with its high degree of standardization and relatively small, simplified design, the shift to factory work has a significant impact on overall project cost due to earlier identification and better coordination of parallel construction paths. This is in stark contrast to the construction of a large LWR in the past. Finally, the PBMR modular plant concept continues at the

Glaciologist and geophysicists study many dynamic processes in glaciated environments such as sliding, crevasse formation, and water flow. These processes generate signals that can be interpreted for fundamental parameters needed for numerical models of glacier and ice sheet flow. These signals include microearthquakes beneath glaciers and ice streams during stick-slip processes; seismically identifiable harmonic tremors associated with subglacial water flow; supraglacial lake drainage which can produce rapid uplift of the 1 m/hr. In addition, researchers use active seismic experiments to determine bed properties such as roughness and lubrication. Currently, each process requires different instrumentation and/or different field equipment to collect the data such as a GPS receiver for displacement, a passive seismic instrument for microearthquakes, and a multichannel seismic recorder for active seismic experiments. We report on the development of an instrument specifically designed for observing dynamic glaciated environments in a single platform, reducing the need for multiple field systems and reducing the cost considerably. The geoPebble wireless seismic acquisition system, designed and built at the Pennsylvania State University, comprises 4 channels of 24-bit seismic and acoustic digitizing, an L1 GPS engine, onboard data storage and an 802.15 ZigBee radio. Three of the four ADC channels are intended to be used with a 3 component seismic sensor. The fourth channel is a dedicated to an audio frequency microphone. The 1 Hz L1 GPS system is capable of horizontal position accuracy to better than 10 cm when post-processed against L1/L2 stations within 10 km. Onboard storage is achieved with a Secure Digital card where volumes now exceed 32 GB. The ZigBee radio is capable of forming a mesh network which reduces transmit and receive power requirements while maintaing communication throughout the array and provides state-of-health information as well as sufficient data

Astronaut crew medical officers (CMO) aboard the International Space Station (ISS) receive 40 hours of medical training over 18 months before each mission, including two-person cardiopulmonary resuscitation (2CPR) as recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA). Recent studies have concluded that the use of metronomic tones improves the coordination of 2CPR by trained clinicians. 2CPR performance data for minimally-trained caregivers has been limited. The goal of this study was to determine whether use of a metronome by minimally-trained caregivers (CMO analogues) would improve 2CPR performance. 20 pairs of minimally-trained caregivers certified in 2CPR via AHA guidelines performed 2CPR for 4 minutes on an instrumented manikin using 3 interventions: 1) Standard 2CPR without a metronome [NONE], 2) Standard 2CPR plus a metronome for coordinating compression rate only [MET], 3) Standard 2CPR plus a metronome for coordinating both the compression rate and ventilation rate [BOTH]. Caregivers were evaluated for their ability to meet the AHA guideline of 32 breaths-240 compressions in 4 minutes. All (100%) caregivers using the BOTH intervention provided the required number of ventilation breaths as compared with the NONE caregivers (10%) and MET caregivers (0%). For compressions, 97.5% of the BOTH caregivers were not successful in meeting the AHA compression guideline; however, an average of 238 compressions of the desired 240 were completed. None of the caregivers were successful in meeting the compression guideline using the NONE and MET interventions. This study demonstrates that use of metronomic tones by minimally-trained caregivers for coordinating both compressions and breaths improves 2CPR performance. Meeting the breath guideline is important to minimize air entering the stomach, thus decreasing the likelihood of gastric aspiration. These results suggest that manifesting a metronome for the ISS may augment the performance of 2CPR on orbit and thus may

Traveler's dilemma (TD) is one of social dilemmas which has been well studied in the economics community, but it is attracted little attention in the physics community. The TD game is a two-persongame. Each player can select an integer value between $R$ and $M$ ($R < M$) as a pure strategy. If both of them select the same value, the payoff to them will be that value. If the players select different values, say $i$ and $j$ ($R \\le i < j \\le M$), then the payoff to the player who chooses the small value will be $i+R$ and the payoff to the other player will be $i-R$. We term the player who selects a large value as the cooperator, and the one who chooses a small value as the defector. The reason is that if both of them select large values, it will result in a large total payoff. The Nash equilibrium of the TD game is to choose the smallest value $R$. However, in previous behavioral studies, players in TD game typically select values that are much larger than $R$, and the average selected value exhibits an ...

The English edition differs only slightly from the Russian original. The main struc­ tural difference is that all the material on the theory of finite noncooperative games has been collected in Chapter 2, with renumbering of the material of the remain­ ing chapters. New sections have been added in this chapter: devoted to general questions of equilibrium theory in nondegenerate games, subsections 3.9-3.17, by N.N. Vorob'ev, Jr.; and § 4, by A.G. Chernyakov; and § 5, by N.N. Vorob'ev, Jr., on the computational complexity of the process of finding equilibrium points in finite games. It should also be mentioned that subsections 3.12-3.14 in Chapter 1 were written by E.B. Yanovskaya especially for the Russian edition. The author regrets that the present edition does not reflect the important game-theoretical achievements presented in the splendid monographs by E. van Damme (on the refinement of equilibrium principles for finite games), as well as those by J.e. Harsanyi and R. Selten, and by W. Giith and B. Ka...

Full Text Available This work analyses the contribution of radiation heat transfer in the cooling of a pebble bed modular reactor. The mathematical model, developed for a porous medium, is based on a set of equations applied to an annular geometry. Previous major works dealing with the subject have considered the forced convection mode and often did not take into account the radiation heat transfer. In this work, only free convection and radiation heat transfer are considered. This can occur during the removal of residual heat after shutdown or during an emergency situation. In order to derive the governing equations of radiation heat transfer, a steady-state in an isotropic and emissive porous medium (CO2 is considered. The obtained system of equations is written in a dimensionless form and then solved. In order to evaluate the effect of radiation heat transfer on the total heat removed, an analytical method for solving the system of equations is used. The results allow quantifying both radiation and free convection heat transfer. For the studied situation, they show that, in a pebble bed modular reactor, more than 70% of heat is removed by radiation heat transfer when CO2 is used as the coolant gas.

have assessed the characteristics of clasts along Curiosity's traverse to shed light on the processes important in the genesis, modification, and transportation of surface materials. Pebble- to cobble-sized clasts at Bradbury Landing, and subsequently along Curiosity's traverse to Yellowknife Bay, reflect a mixing of two end-member transport mechanisms. The general clast population likely represents material deposited via impact processes, including meteorite fragments, ejecta from distant craters, and impactites consisting of shocked and shock-melted materials from within Gale Crater, which resulted predominantly in larger, angular clasts. A subset of rounded pebble-sized clasts has likely been modified by intermittent alluvial or fluvial processes. The morphology of this rounded clast population indicates that water was a more important transporting agent here than at other Mars sites that have been studied in situ. Finally, we identified populations of basalt clasts and porphyritic clasts of undetermined composition by their morphologic and textural characteristics; basalts are confirmed by geochemical data provided by ChemCam.

As sediments containing significant gravel portions are increasingly used for beach replenishment projects globally, the total number of beaches classified as `mixed sand and gravel' (MSG) increases. Calculations for required replenishment sediment volumes usually assume a uniform layer of sediment transport across and along the beach, but research into active layer (AL) depth has shown variations both across shore and according to sediment size distribution. This study addresses the need for more accurate calculations of sediment transport volumes on MSG beaches by using more precise measurements of AL depth and width, and virtual velocity of tracer pebbles. Variations in AL depth were measured along three main profile lines (from MHWS to MLWN) at Eastoke, Hayling Island (Hampshire, UK). Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagged pebbles were deployed in columns, and their new locations repeatedly surveyed with RFID technology. These data were combined with daily dGPS beach profiles and sediment sampling for detailed analysis of the influence of beach morphodynamics on sediment transport volumes. Data were collected over two consecutive winter seasons: 2014-15 (relatively calm, average wave height sandy lower foreshore reduced the AL to 10% of wave height in this area. The disparity in AL depth across the beach profile indicates that traditional models are not accurately representing bulk sediment transport on MSG beaches. It is anticipated that by improving model inputs, beach managers will be better able to predict necessary volumes and sediment grain size proportions of replenishment material for effective management of MSG beaches.

The modular pebble-bed high-temperature reactors (PB-HTRs), featured by the inherent safety and modular design concept, are considered as one of the promising candidates for the nuclear system of next generation. The characteristics of on-line successive fueling, as well as the features of small excess reactivity and lack of reactivity control methods, make the fuel management and operation of PB-HTRs coupled tightly with each other. The on-line fuel management of PB-HTRs needs the capability of on-line prediction for future operation scenarios based on the combination of several tightly coupled key parameters of the reactor core, including the power level of reactor core, the unloading speed and loading ratio of fuel/dummy pebbles, and the control rod positions. The methodology of on-line prediction is proposed, and then verified by the model of the HTR-10, a small test modular PB-HTR with nominal power of 10 MW. For different combinations, the prediction sequences are calculated by using the computer code system of VSOP for both equilibrium state and running-in phase, especially the latter. The prediction results are analyzed by using a series of data processing based on the polynomial interpolation to determine the optimized parameters for fuel management and core operation of next step. The verification of methodology on the HTR-10 model demonstrates the feasibility of the on-line prediction and fuel management of modular PH-HTRs. (author)

Full Text Available The pebble-bed reactor HTR-PM is being built in China and is planned to be critical in one or two years. At present, one emphasis of engineering design is to determine the fuel management scheme of the initial core and running-in phase. There are many possible schemes, and many factors need to be considered in the process of scheme evaluation and analysis. Based on the experience from the constructed or designed pebble-bed reactors, the fuel enrichment and the ratio of fuel spheres to graphite spheres are important. In this paper, some relevant physical considerations of the initial core and running-in phase of HTR-PM are given. Then a typical scheme of the initial core and running-in phase is proposed and simulated with VSOP code, and some key physical parameters, such as the maximum power per fuel sphere, the maximum fuel temperature, the refueling rate, and the discharge burnup, are calculated. Results of the physical parameters all satisfy the relevant design requirements, which means the proposed scheme is safe and reliable and can provide support for the fuel management of HTR-PM in the future.

A strong spectral interaction between the core and the reflector has been one of the main concerns in the analysis of pebble bed reactor cores. To resolve this problem, VSOP adopted iteration between the spectrum calculation in a spectral zone and the global core calculation. In VSOP, the whole problem domain is divided into many spectral zones in which the fine group spectrum is calculated using bucklings for fast groups and albedos for thermal groups from the global core calculation. The resulting spectrum in each spectral zone is used to generate broad group cross sections of the spectral zone for the global core calculation. In this paper, we demonstrate a two step procedure in a pebble bed reactor core analysis. In the first step, we generate equivalent cross sections from a 1-D slab spectral geometry model with the help of the equivalence theory. The equivalent cross sections generated in this way include the effect of the spectral interaction between the core and the reflector. In the second step, we perform a diffusion calculation using the equivalent cross sections generated in the first step. A simple benchmark problem derived from the PMBR-400 Reactor was introduced to verify this approach. We compared the two step solutions with the Monte Carlo (MC) solutions for the problem.

The chemical compositions of the solar system giant planets are a major source of informations on their origins. Since the measurements by the Galileo probe, multiple models have been put forward to try and explain the noble gases enrichment in Jupiter. The most discussed among these are its formation in the outer cold nebula and its formation in a partially photoevaporated disk. In this work I couple a pebbles accretion model to the disk's chemistry and photoevaporation in order to make predictions from both scenarios and compare them to the upcoming Juno measurements. The model include pebbles and gas accretion, type I and II migration, photoevaporation and chemical measurements from meteorites, comets and disks. Population synthesis simulations are used to explore the models free parameters (planets initial conditions), where then the results are narrowed down using the planets chemical, dynamical and core mass costraints. We end up with a population that fits all of the constrains. These are then used to predict the oxygen abundance and core mass in Jupiter, to be compared to results of Juno. Same calculations are also done for Saturn and Neptune for comparison. I will present the results from these simulations as well as the predictions from all of the different models.Ali-Dib, M. (2016ab, submitted to MNRAS)

This paper dives into the subject of video game audio and how it can be categorized in order to deliver a message to a player in the most precise way. A new categorization, with a new take on the diegetic spaces, can be used a tool of inspiration for sound- and game-designers to rethink how they ...

The Waisda? video labeling game is a crowsourcing tool to collect user-generated metadata for video clips. It follows the paradigm of games-with-a-purpose, where two or more users play against each other by entering tags that describe the content of the video. Players score points by entering the sa

Videogames can be used to help children change their obesity-related diet and physical activity behaviors. A review of the relevant literature in this special issue of the Games for Health Journal indicated that video games did influence children's adiposity, but only among children who were alread...

An NTU-game consists of payoff sets for every coalition of players. We introduce the concept of supermodularity of a game to guarantee that all its marginal vectors are in the core. As solution we propose a set of payoff vectors that is determined by the average of all marginal vectors, the Shapley

controlling for differences in origin of law, investor rights, corruption and Euro adoption, neither a game-hoarding effect nor an only-game-in-town effect is strongly supported in the European case. The results are important in understanding the concept of local bias in a cross-country framework....

The New Media Consortium's "Horizon Report" for higher education cites games and gamification with a time-to-adoption of two to three years. The use of digital games is almost ubiquitous in social media and is swiftly gaining popularity in other industries as well. Many in higher education have embraced gamification due to its…

The uniforms for Beijing Olympics’ workers, technical staff and volunteers have been unveiled to mark the 200-day countdown to the Games. The uniforms feature the key element of the clouds of promise and will be in three colors:red for Beijing Olympic Games Committee staff, blue

Beijing has begun work on laws and regulations to guarantee the smooth operation of the 2008 Olympics One of the major tasks for Beijing as host of the 2008 Olympic Games is to establish regulations and laws to govern the preparations for and conduct of the Games. Thus, on April 10 the Olympic Legislation Coordinating

An overview is provided of the activities and results op GATE WP 4.4 entiteld Transfer of Gaming (ToG). This work package has produced the principles and methodologies concerning optimalization and measurement of transfer of training in serious gaming. In addition, true transfer of job-specific comp

The authors have devoted a considerable amount of time evaluating the role that gaming and game development plays in the form of curricula integration and as a future career focus for students interested in this field. From the research conducted through the completed National Science Foundation (NSF) project, VisTE: Visualization in Technology…

The New Media Consortium's "Horizon Report" for higher education cites games and gamification with a time-to-adoption of two to three years. The use of digital games is almost ubiquitous in social media and is swiftly gaining popularity in other industries as well. Many in higher education have embraced gamification due to its…

An example of the way gaming can be used to bring attention to, and improve skills in, making democracy function better is presented. The game is played by seven people seated around two triangular playing boards; it involves making choices among least, intermediate, and most preferred alternatives, keeping the preferences of the majority in…

Today's video games aren't even a little bit like the ones that came out a few decades ago. Not only has the underlying technology dramatically improved, but the medium has matured remarkably in the years since "Pong" and "Space Invaders." ruled the arcades. The artistic promise of video games has yet to be fulfilled. The current state of the…

The authors' research work deals with the development of new game-based learning (gbl) environments. They think that the way of acquiring knowledge during a learning session is similar to following an adventure in a role-playing game and they apply the metaphor of exploring a virtual world, where each student embarks on a quest in order to collect…

In this talk we will report on new results concerning the existence of smooth solutions for time dependent mean-field games. This new result is established through a combination of various tools including several a-priori estimates for time-dependent mean-field games combined with new techniques for the regularity of Hamilton-Jacobi equations.

Higher education is cautiously exploring a new educational tool: computer games. Educational computer games were recently the focus of a symposium held in Delft. Will we soon be giving and following courses, lectures and trainings in a virtual 3D world, instead of in lecture halls?

An easy-to-follow, tutorial manner that uses the learning-by-example approach.If you are a developer who wants to start making multiplayer games with the Unity game engine, this book is for you. This book assumes you have some basic experience with programming. No prior knowledge of the Unity IDE is required.

States making game theory relevant and accessible to students is challenging. Describes the primary goal of GameTheory.net is to provide interactive teaching tools. Indicates the site strives to unite educators from economics, political and computer science, and ecology by providing a repository of lecture notes and tests for courses using…

In this paper we seek to account for scalar implicatures and Horn's division of pragmatic labor in game-theoretical terms by making use mainly of refinements of the standard solution concept of signaling games. Scalar implicatures are accounted for in terms of Farrell's (1993) notion of a 'neologism

For the countless tasks involved in creating a game engine there are an equal number of possible solutions. But instead of spending hours and hours trying to develop your own answers, now you can find out how the pros do it! Game Programming Gems is a hands-on, comprehensive resource packed with a variety of game programming algorithms written by experts from the game industry and edited by Mark DeLoura, former software engineering lead for Nintendo of America, Inc. and now the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Game Developer magazine. From animation and artificial intelligence to Z-buffering, lighting calculations, weather effects, curved surfaces, mutliple layer Internet gaming, to music and sound effects, all of the major techniques needed to develop a competitive game engine are covered. Game Programming Gems is written in a style accessible to individuals with a range of expertise levels. All of the source code for each algorithm is included and can be used by advanced programmers immediately. For aspir...

Describes the development of "The Work Ethic Game" that focuses on integrity in the workplace. Explains that the game is divided into three categories: legal, judgment, and policy issues. Discusses different personality types in the typical employee population. Includes possibilities for use at different education levels. (DK)

The authors' research work deals with the development of new game-based learning (gbl) environments. They think that the way of acquiring knowledge during a learning session is similar to following an adventure in a role-playing game and they apply the metaphor of exploring a virtual world, where each student embarks on a quest in order to collect…

Digital games have become popular due to great technological improvements in recent years. They have been increasingly transformed from co-located experiences into multi-played, socially oriented platforms (Herodotou, 2009). Multi-User Online Games provide the opportunity to create a social environment for friendships and strengthen the…